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MEMORIES 


6\J 


OF 


MANY   MEN  IN   MANY   LANDS 


^N  ^UTOBIOGRAPHT 


BY 

FRANCIS  E.  CLARK,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE   UNITED   SOCIETY  OF  CHRISTIAN   ENDEAVOR 

AND   OF 
THE    world's   CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR   UNION 


UNITED  SOCIETY  OF  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR 

BOSTON  CHICAGO 


Copyright,  1922 

BY 

The  United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor 

PRINTED  IN  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


THE     PLIMPTON     PRESS 
NORWOOD-MASS -U-S-A 


SDedicated  I 

TO  A  HUNDRED  THOUSAND  FRIENDS  IN  ALL  LANDS  j 

A  Few  of  Whom  Are  Named   in   This   Volume,   and   All  of   Whom   Ha\te  i 

Blessed  My  Life;    But  Especially  1 

TO  MY  WIFE  ! 

I 
Who  Has  Shared  with  Me  Three  of  Five  Journeys  around  the  World,  as  i 

Well  as  Many  Shorter  Voyages;  Who  Has   Been  My   Constant   Comfort  i 

AND  Support,  and  Without  Whose  Help  at  the  Typewriter,  and  Frequent  | 

I 
Suggestions  of  Literary  Value,  This  Volume    Could    Never   Have    Been  I 

Written.    To  Her  I  Inscribe  It  on  , 

I 
This  Forty-Sixth  Anniversary  of  Our  Marriage  ■ 

october  3,  1922  i 


FOREWORD 


HIS  volume  has  been  written  in  different 
lands  during  the  last  seven  years,  much 
of  it  in  snatches  of  time  caught  between 
speaking  engagements.  The  only  compara- 
tively free  time  I  have  been  able  to  devote 
to  it  has  been  a  month  or  six  weeks  in  Hono- 
lulu in  19 16,  and  nearly  two  months  in  Freiburg,  Germany, 
in  the  spring  of  1922.  Even  these  months  were  frequently 
interrupted  by  unexpected  calls  for  addresses  and  by  demands 
for  articles  for  different  publications. 

I  have  had  to  rely  for  dates  largely  on  my  memory,  sup- 
plemented by  Mrs.  Clark's,  and  by  a  few  of  her  "  Line-a- 
Day  "  books.  This  may  have  resulted  in  slight  inaccuracies 
in  dates  of  minor  importance.  Yet  on  the  whole  I  think  my 
readers  may  congratulate  themselves  on  the  fact  that  I  have 
not  kept  a  careful  diary,  lest  this  volume  might' have  swelled 
to  an  inordinate  size. 

Old  Edmund  Waller  once  wrote: 

"Poets  lose  half  the  praise  they  should  have  got; 
Were  it  but  known  what  they  discreetly  blot." 

So  do  autobiographers.     In  their  case  the  last  line  might  be 
slightly  amended  to 

"  Were  it  but  known  what  they,  perchance,  forgot." 

My  chief  sins  or  chief  virtues,  as  you  may  look  at  it,  have 
been  those  of  omission^  for  in  spite  of  much  forgetting,  my 
embarrassment  has  been  the  embarrassment  of  riches.  I  have 
recalled  so  many  incidents  I  wanted  to  record,  and  especially 
so  many  people  I  wanted  to  tell  about,  that  my  task  has  been 


VI  FOREWORD 

that  of  using  an  ever-sharp  mental  blue-pencil.  I  have  con- 
stantly had  to  remind  myself  that  my  task  was  to  write  a  per- 
sonal autobiography,  and  not  a  history  of  our  times,  or  a 
history  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement.  A  multitude  of 
my  friends  who  have  been  most  usefully  prominent  in  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  will  not  find  themselves  mentioned  in  this 
volume,  —  not-because  I  have  forgotten  them,  or  do  not  love 
them,  but  simply  for  lack  of  space  in  a  book  which,  as  it  is, 
I  fear  is  too  large. 

I  have  had  equal  difficulty  in  choosing  the  illustrations  and 
have  looked  over  no  less  than  two  thousand  photographs  to 
find  a  hundred  which  on  the  whole  seemed  most  suitable. 

It  has  been  a  genuine  joy  to  write  this  book,  in  spite  of  its 
inevitable  deficiencies  and  the  difficulty  of  finding  time  for  it, 
for  it  has  brought  to  mind  dear  friends  in  every  land  and  many 
happy  scenes  of  fellowship  and  spiritual  communion.  I  trust 
that  in  the  future  this  book  may  be  some  contribution  to  the 
story  of  the  movement  with  which  my  name  has  been  con- 
nected, and  which,  I  feel  more  and  more,  as  the  years  go  by, 
is  not  of  man,  or  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter  I 

Years  1599-1670 

MY  EARLY  ANCESTORS   IN  AMERICA 

The  Strenuous  Career  of  Rev.  Zechariah  Symmes  —  Anne  Hutchinson  and  the 
Quakers  —  The  Land  of  Nod  —  How  My  First  American  Ancestor  Helped 
Me  through  College  —  The  Clark  Branches  of  the  Family  Tree i 

Chapter  II 

Years  1840-1854 

MY  FATHER 

My  Birthplace  —  Pioneering  in  Canadian   Forests  —  The  Mighty  Ottawa  — 

Aylmer  and  Bytown  —  A  Terrible  Epidemic  —  A  Widow's  Grief      ....        10 

Chapter  III 

Years  1814-1858 

MY  MOTHER 

Her  Girlhood  —  Her  Education  under  Mary  Lyon  —  Her  Character  —  Her 
Wonderful  Journal  —  Her  Struggle  for  Self-Support  —  My  Brother  Charles 
—  Charlie's  Death 16 

Chapter  IV 

Years  1856-1869 

MY   BOYHOOD 

Earliest  Memories  —  My  Mother's  Death  —  Good-by  to  Aylmer  — ■  Beautiful 

Auburndale  —  Memories  of  the  Civil  War  —  Claremont  —  Academy  Days       28 

Chapter  V 

Years  1869-1873 

DARTMOUTH   DAYS 

Dartmouth  Centennial  Commencement  —  Chief  Justice  Chase  and  General 
Tecumseh  Sherman  —  Our  President  and  Professors  —  Primitive  Days  at 
Dartmouth  —  Fraternity  Life  —  Literary   Efforts  —  Football   in   the  Old 

Days  —  Teaching  School  Winters 42 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter  VI 

Years  1873-1876 

ANDOVER   DAYS 

Two  Great  Theologians   and   Teachers  —  Sermon   Clubs  —  Mission    Work  — 

Where  I  Met  My  Fate  —  My  Wife's  Forbears      57 

Chapter  VII 

Years   i  876-1 883 

WILLISTON    DAYS 

A  Young  Pastor's  First  Church  —  The  Rapid  Growth  of  Williston  —  The 
"Beautiful  City  by  the  Sea"  —  Maine's  Great  Men  —  Personal  Recollec- 
tions of  Thomas  B.  Reed 67 

Chapter  VIII 

Year  1881 

THE   BEGINNING  OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR   MOVEMENT 

February  2,  1881 — -Pre-Christian-Endeavor  Societies  —  Cookies  and  a  Con- 
stitution —  A  Wonderful  Transformation  —  Growth  of  Christian  Endeavor 
throughout  the  Country  —  Denominational  Opposition 77 

Chapter  IX 

Years  1883-1887 

IN  SOUTH   BOSTON 

An  Unusual  Installation  —  South  Boston  in  the  Eighties  —  A  Generous  Church 
—  Phillips  Church  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  —  The  Golden  Rule  — 
Farewell  to  the  Pastorate 88 

Chapter  X 

Years  1888-1891 

TRAVELING   DAYS   BEGIN 

My  First  Foreign  Christian  Endeavor  Journey  —  The  Kindly  Sunday-School 
Union  —  An  Objection  Answered  —  William  E.  Gladstone  —  Auburndale 
Again 99 

Chapter  XI 

Years  1892- 1893 

EARLY  JOURNEYS  IN  LANDS  AFAR 

The  American  Quartette  ^  "New  York  '92"  —  A  Round-the-World  Commis- 
sion —  Six  Weeks  in  Australia  —  China,  Japan,  and  India  —  In  the  Centre 
of  a  Typhoon  —  A  Sore  Disappointment 107 


CONTENTS  ix 

PAGE 

Chapter  XII 

Year   1893 

IN   PALESTINE,  TURKEY,  AND   EUROPE 

The  Terrors  of  Jaffa  —  Turkish  Objections  to  Literature  —  Unsuccessful  At- 
tempts at  Smuggling — ^  The  Birthplace  of  St.  Paul  —  Cilician  Gates  and 
Taurus  Mountains  —  A  Perilous  Journey  —  Constantinople  and  Hamid 
II.  —  Spain  and  England 118 

Chapter  XIII 

Year   1893 
CHRISTIAN  CITIZENSHIP  AND  CHRISTIAN   ENDEAVOR 

Partisan  Politics  —  A  Tragedy  Turned  into  Comedy  —  An  Unexpected  Cold 

Douche  —  The  Prudential  Committee 132 

Chapter  XIV 

Years  1885-1922 

TRUE  YOKEFELLOWS 

Some  of  My  Fellow- Workers  —  God's  Chosen  Men  —  Where  and  How  They 
Were  Found  —  What  They  Have  Done — -Many  Unnamed  Workers  — 
The  Hand  of  Providence 137 

Chapter  XV 

Years  1876-1922 

A  SHORT  CHAPTER  ON  RECREATIONS 

The  Maine  Woods  —  A  Memorable  Canoe  Trip — -The  Little  Backwoods  Girl     151 

Chapter  XVI 

Years  1892-1922 

CONCERNING  INTERPRETERS  AND  INTERPRETATION 

How  Christian  Endeavor  Started  in  Continental  Europe  —  Interpreters  or 
Interrupters  —  A  Ludicrous  Translation  —  The  Ability  of  Japanese  In- 
terpreters        155 

Chapter  XVII 

Years  1884-1922 

GREAT  BRITAIN  AND  GREAT  BRITISHERS 

A  Score  of  the  World's  Most  Eloquent  Preachers  —  Drs.  Meyer,  Clifford, 
Maclaren,  Parker,  Spurgeon,  and  Many  Others  —  In  Spurgeon's  Class- 
Room  —  Dr.  Parker's  Humor  —  A  Good  Irish  Story  —  William  T.  Stead  .      162 


X  CONTENTS 

*  PAGE 

Chapter  XVIII 

Years  i  896-1 898 

MEXICO,  JAMAICA,  AND   CUBA 

Mexico  Twenty-five  Years  Ago  —  Zacatecas  —  Lovely  Jamaica  —  An  Unusual 

Greeting  —  Cuba  and  the  Spanish  War      181 

Chapter  XIX 

Years  i 896-1 897 

DISMAL  DAYS   IN  INDIA 

Two  Wonderful  Conventions  —  En  Route  to  India  —  Lord  NorthclifFe  —  A 
Terrible   Plague  —  An  Awful   Famine  —  William  Carey  First  and  Third 

—  A  Chain  of  Love  —  Off  for  Africa 190 

Chapter  XX 

Year  1897 

SOUTH  AFRICA  BEFORE  THE  BOER  WAR 

On  a  Coolie  Ship  —  Among  the  Zulus  —  President  Kruger  ("Oom  Paul")  —  In 
the  Diamond  Fields  —  A  Remarkable  School — -Andrew  Murray  and  the 
Murray  Family 208 

Chapter  XXI 

Year  1900 

CHINA   IN  THE   GRIP  OF  THE   BOXERS 

A  Call  on  Count  Okuma  —  China's  Interesting  Convention  —  Reasons  for  the 
Boxer  Uprising  —  A  Prayer  for  Rain  —  Brave  Missionaries  —  The  Mas- 
sacres at  Pao-ting-fu  —  Horace  Pitkin  —  Mary  Morrill 223 

Chapter  XXII 

Year  1900 

ACROSS  SIBERIA  IN   FORTY-TWO   DAYS 

Picturesque  Korean  Monastery  —  Landing  in  Russia  —  The  Siberian  Railway 

—  Dangers   and   Difficulties  —  Fourth-Class   Cars  —  Lake   Baikal  —  Bla- 
govyeshchensk  —  Irkutzk  —  Moscow  at  Last 239 

Chapter  XXIII 

Years  1901-1902 

THE   CHARM  OF   SCANDINAVIA  IN  WINTER 

An    Interview   with    King   Oscar  —  Prince    Bernadotte  —  A    Love    Match  — 

Locked  in  the  Ice  —  P  inland's  Woes 257 


CONTENTS  xi 

PAGE 

Chapter  XXIV 

Year  1902 

FROM  THE  BALKANS  TO  ICELAND 

A  Missionary  Captured  by  Brigands  —  Many  Races  and  Languages  —  Isolated 

Iceland — ^  The  Ancient  Althing  —  Thingvalla  —  Fishing  on  the  Sog    .    .    .     266 

Chapter  XXV 

Years  1903-1904 

NEW  ZEALAND,  THE  TOURISTS'   PARADISE 

Definite  Goals  for  Endeavorers  —  Off  for  New  Zealand  —  Geyser  Wonders  — 
A  Boiling  Lake  —  A  Terrible  Explosion  —  Endeavor  Meetings  in  Leading 
Cities 278 

Chapter  XXVI 

Year  1904 

AUSTRALIA  AND   SOUTH   AFRICA   REVISITED 

The  Vastness  of  Australia  —  A  Fruit-Growers'  Paradise  —  Grapes  of  Eshcol  — 
The  "Golden  Mile"  of  West  Australia  —  Across  the  "Roaring  Forties"  — 
Boers  and  British  Together  in  Christian  Endeavor  —  A  Remarkable 
Captain 287 

Chapter  XXVII 
Years  1904- 1905 
HOME  AGAIN  AND  OFF  AGAIN 

Home  by  Way  of  France,  England,  Scotland,  Germany  —  My  Father's  Grave 

—  A  Call  on  President  Roosevelt  —  Crossing  the  Seas  Once  More  —  A 
History  of  Christian  Endeavor  —  Ober-Ammergau  —  Norway  and  King 
Haakon      300 

Chapter  XXVIII 

Years  1905-1906 

HITHER  AND  YON 

In  Lovely  Dalmatia  —  Montenegro,  Country  of  the  Black  Mountains  —  Corfu 

—  The  Balkan  States  —  Hungary  —  Great  Britain  —  Geneva,  1906    .    .    .     312 

Chapter  XXIX 

Years  1906-1907 

FROM   PEACEFUL  LAKE  MOHONK  TO  DISTRACTED  JAMAICA 

The  Smiley  Brothers  —  Cornell  University  —  Andrew  D.  White  —  A  Terrible 
Earthquake  —  A  Ruined  City  —  The  Canal  Zone  —  Colonel  Gorgas  — 
The  President  of  Panama 326 


xii  CONTENTS  ! 

I 

PAGE  1 

Chapter  XXX  j 

Year  1907  : 

THE  WEST  COAST  OF  SOUTH  AMERICA  i 

Panama  Canal  in  the  Making — Peculiarities  of  the  West  Coast  —  Lima,  the  i 

Pans  of  South  America  —  Harvard  University  in  Arequipa  —  A  Perilous  | 

Journey  —  Lake  Titicaca  —  Beautiful  Santiago  —  The  Christ  of  the  Andes     335 

Chapter  XXXI 

Year  1907  ■ 

THE   EAST  COAST  OF   SOUTH   AMERICA  ■ 

,1 
The  Wonderful  City  of  "Good  Air"  —  An  Audience  with  President  Alcorta  —  j 

Rich  Little  Uruguay  — •  Rio  de  Janeiro  —  The  Prince  of  Cities  —  A  Unique  ( 

Prayer  Meeting  —  Sao  Paulo  —  The  Coffee  Region  —  Home  via  Europe    .     350  j 

Chapter  XXXII  ' 

Year  1908 

A  VARIED  YEAR  : 

An  Old  Enemy  —  An  Old  Friend  —  Horace  Fletcher  —  Fifty-one  Photographs  j 

in  Twenty-one  Days  —  England,  Spain,  France,  Scandinavia,  Holland  —  1 

A  Church  Service  in  Groningen  —  Carrie  Nation's  Hatchet 363  '. 

Chapter  XXXIII  •! 

Years  1909-1910 

AROUND  THE  WORLD   IN  FOUR  MONTHS  I 

Part  I  i 

Agra  1909  — "600  American  Millionaires"  —  Travel  Talks  and  Lectures  — 
The  Taj  Mahal  —  The  Praises  of  the  Nations  —  A  Consecration  Service 
by  Languages  —  Our  "Round-Top"  Meeting 370  ; 

Chapter  XXXIV 

Year  19 10  ., 

AROUND  THE  WORLD   IN  FOUR   MONTHS 

Part  II 

Java  —  The  Wild  Men  of  Borneo  —  Open  House  in  the  Philippines  —  Trou- 
blous China —  Hospitable  Japan  —  Beautiful  Honolulu  —  Home  Again      .     386 

Chapter  XXXV 

Years  1908-1922 

IN  THE  GOOD  OLD   SUMMER  TIME 

From  the  Maine  Coast  to  Cape  Cod  —  A  House  for  ^550.  —  The  Charming 
Maine  Coast  —  Why  We  Chose  Sagamore  —  Reforming  an  Abandoned 
Farm  —  Rejuvenating  an  Old  House 397 


CONTENTS  xiii 

PAGE 

Chapter  XXXVI 

Year  1911 

IN  OLD   HOMES  OF  NEW  AMERICANS 

A  Long  Zigzag  Journey  —  Its  Purpose,  to  Acquaint  Americans  with  Austro- 
Hungarian  Immigrants  —  Poland  —  Russia  —  Petty  Prohibitions  —  Cra- 
cow—  Czernovitz  —  Where  a  Camera  Is  a  Novelty — Roumania  — 
Croatia      405 

Chapter  XXXVII 

Years  1911-1912 

A  WINTER   IN  ATHENS 

Corinth  on  the  Gulf — Fishermen  and  Turkey-Women  —  Phoebe's  Old  Home 
in  Cenchrea  — •  The  Glories  of  Athens  —  Interesting  Sights  from  Our  Win- 
dow —  An  Interview  with  King  George      420 

Chapter  XXXVIII 

Year  1912 

IN  THE   FOOTSTEPS   OF   ST.   PAUL 

Part  I 

Old  Thessalonica  —  Prison  of  the  Great  Assassin  —  Seventj'  Buried  Churches 
of  Berea  —  Where  Paul  First  Set  Foot  in  Europe  —  Philippi,  Its  Dra- 
matic History 431 

Chapter  XXXIX 

Year  1912 

IN  THE   FOOTSTEPS   OF   ST.   PAUL 

Part  II 

Iconium  —  The  Oldest  City  in  the  World  —  Seljukian  Turks  and  Their  Won- 
derful Mosques  —  Why  the  Dervishes  Whirl  —  Finding  the  Site  of  Lj'stra 
—  How  "Christian  Dogs"  Found  Favor  —  From  Stones  to  Melons — -A 
Noble  Missionary  Doctor 440 

Chapter  XL 

Year  1912 

THE   SEVEN   CITIES  OF   REVELATION 

An  Interesting  Journey  to  Old  Philadelphia  —  Sardis  —  Thyatira  —  Perga- 
mum  —  Smyrna  —  Ephesus  —  Laodicea  —  A  Persian  Tomb  at  Sardis  — 
Immense  Ruins  of  Pergamum  —  Desolate  Ruins  of  Laodicea  —  Scripture 
Illustrated 450 


xiv  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter  XLI 

Year  1912 

IN  THE   HOLY  LAND  ONCE   MORE 

A  Sixtieth  Birthday — Palestine  Just  before  the  Great  War  —  Jerusalem  — 
Nazareth  —  Damascus  —  Baalbec  —  Beirut  —  Tyre  —  Sidon  —  Cairo  — 
Assiout  —  Alexandria  —  Syracuse  —  Earthquake-Ruined  Messina  —  Poz- 
zuoli  —  Rome 47° 

Chapter  XLH 

Year  1913 

THE   LAND  OF  THE   MID-DAY   MOON 

Far  beyond  the  Arctic  Circle  —  The  Great  Magnet  —  A  Day  without  a  Sunrise 
—  Farthest  North  —  A  Christian  Endeavor  Meeting  in  Norway's  National 
Cathedral  —  The  Romance  of  the  Little  Nut-Seller  —  Finland's  Beautiful 
Churches  —  Meetings  in  Germany,  France,  and  Italy 493 

Chapter  XLIII 

Year  1914 

A   RECORD  OF   PROVIDENTIAL   DELIVERANCES 

How  a  Poem  Glorified  a  City  —  Plans  for  a  New  St.  Bartholomew's  Day  — 
How  the  Barcelona  Police  Frustrated  Plans  —  A  Boomerang  —  A  Run- 
away Automobile  in  London  —  Almost  Shipwrecked 503 

Chapter  XLIV 

Years  1914-1922 

ON  OLD   BEACON  HILL 

Boston's  Most  Interesting  Section  —  Massachusetts'  State  House  —  The 
Authors'  Hill  —  Pinckney  Street  — The  World's  Christian  Endeavor 
Building  — The  Authors'Club  — The  City  Club  — The  Monday  Club      .     515 

Chapter  XLV 

Year  1915 

TYPHOID   FEVER  AND   ITS   COMPENSATIONS 

Some  Peace  Organizations  —  A  Journey  That  Was  Never  Taken  —  Seventy- 
five  Days  in  Bed  —  At  Death's  Door  —  President  Wilson's  Letters  —  An 
Unknown  Catholic  Friend 5^3 

Chapter  XLVI 

Years  1915-1916 

A  WINTER   IN  HONOLULU 

"Behind  the  Veil"  —  Beautiful  Honolulu  — Our  Welcome  — Our  Hosts  —  A 

Happy  Winter  —  OfF  for  Japan 533 


CONTENTS  XV 

PAGE 

Chapter  XLVII 

Year  1916 

JAPAN   IN   1916 

Polite  Reporters  —  A  Light  (?)  Schedule  —  Eminent  Editors  —  A  Nobleman's 
Memories  of  America  —  Count  Okuma's  Cordiality  —  Asana's  Palace  — 
A  Peace  Banquet  —  The  Late  Emperor's  Tomb  —  Our  Japanese 
"Daughter" 541 

Chapter  XLVIII 

Year  1916 

IN  THE   LAND  OF   MORNING   CALM 

Korea  after  Sixteen  Years  —  Great  Improvements  —  National  Unrest  — 
Twelve  Hundred  People  at  a  Prayer  Meeting — Pneumonia  —  Best  Laid 
Plans  Gang  Aft  Agley  —  Mukden,  the  Barbaric 551 

Chapter  XLIX 

Year  igi6 

THE   CHINA  OF  YUAN   SHI   KAI 

Unwise  Economy  —  Beside  the  Great  Wall  —  Yuan  Shi  Kai's  Pretensions  — 
Memorable  Scenes  in  Peking — Hangchow — -Ten  Thousand  Miles  of 
Travel  for  a  Ten-Minute  Speech  —  In  a  Chinese  Revolution — Weary 
Days  of  Illness  —  Cormorant  Fishing  —  Home  Again 560 

Chapter  L 

Years  1916-1917 

CLIMBING  UP   HILL   DIFFICULTY  TO  HEALTHVILLE 

A  Month  in  Hospital  —  America  in  the  War  —  Anxious  Days  for  the  World 

—  In  Flowery  Florida  —  How  a  Puritan  Home  Renewed  Its  Youth     .    .    .      576 

Chapter  LI 

Years   1917-1919 

THE  LATER  YEARS  OF  THE  WORLD  WAR 

Organizing  Christian  Endeavor  Alumni  —  Reception  in  My  Boyhood  Home  — 
Effect  of  the  War  on  the  Christian  Endeavor  Movement  —  The  Sudden 
End  of  the  War  —  A  Saloonless  Nation      587 

Chapter  LII 

Year  1920 

THE  WORLD   AFTER  THE  WAR 

The  Police  Strike  in  Boston  —  On  the  Battlefields  of  France  —  A  Visit  to 
Jugo-Slavia  —  Passport  Troubles  —  Distracted  Europe  —  Where  the  First 


XVI  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Gun  Was  Fired  —  Holiday  Homes  —  Some  British  Meetings  —  On  the 
Trail  of  an  Ancestor 598 

Chapter  LHI 

Year  192  i 

MEXICO  IN   192 1 

How  Engagements  Multiply  — A  Quaker  City — -Mexican  Trains  Thirty-six 
Hours  Late  —  Good  Friday  in  the  Capital  —  Thousands  of  Calla  Lilies  — 
Mexico's  Beautiful  Park  and  Wonderful  Museum  —  A  Race  to  Meet  En- 
gagements—  Great  Churches  in  Texas 615 

Chapter  LIV 

Years  1920-1921 

BEGINNINGS  OF  WORLD   PEACE 

A  Glorious  Vision  of  Amity  —  The  Election  of  1920  —  An  Interesting  Ceremony 

—  President  Harding  Becomes  a  Christian  Endeavor  Alumnus  —  The 
Gracious  Lady  of  the  White  House  —  Endeavorers  in  the  Cabinet  — -  The 
Great  Washington  Conference  —  Some  Petitions  and  Their  Answers   .    .    .     622 

Chapter  LV 

Year  192  i 

THE   FORTIETH  ANNIVERSARY  OF   CHRISTIAN   ENDEAVOR 

In  Portland  —  Aylmer  Swept  by  Fire  —  Why  I  Am  Still  President  —  A 
Crowning  Convention  —  The  Wonderful  Parade  —  "A  Warless  World  by 
1923" 631 

Chapter  LVI 

Years  1921-1922 

FIVE   MONTHS   IN   CENTRAL   EUROPE 

Classical  Freiburg  —  With  Our  Army  on  the  Rhine  —  Germany  in  1922  — 
Victorious  and  Vigorous  Czecho-Slovakia  —  Despoiled  Hungary  —  The 
Wonderful  Bethania  Union  —  Poland  and  Her  Endeavorers  —  Denmark, 
Holland,  England,  Wales  —  Home 639 

Chapter  LVII 

Years  1881-1922 

SOME  OTHER  NOTED  PERSONS  I  HAVE  MET 

Dwight  L.  Moody  —  Ira  D.  Sankey  —  Theodore  Cuyler  —  T.  DeWitt  Talmage 

—  Henry  Ward  Beecher  —  Phillips  Brooks  —  Maltbie  D.  Babcock  — 
Edward  Everett  Hale  —  Vice-President  Fairbanks  —  President  Taft  — 
Frances  E.  Willard  —  Anna  Gordon  —  "Joe"  Cannon  —  Champ  Clark  — 

J.  H.  Kellogg  —  John  Wanamaker  —  William  J.  Bryan      659 


CONTENTS  xvii 

PAGE 

Chapter  LVIII 

Years  1870-1922 

WITH   PEN  AND  TYPEWRITER 

First  Articles  and  Books  about  Young  People's  Work  —  Travel-Books  con- 
cerning Immigrants  —  Five  Thousand  Newspaper  Articles  —  More  Am- 
bitious Flights  —  My  Pen  as  a  Tent  Needle      670 

Chapter  LIX 

Years  1876-1922 

OUR   HOME-LIFE 

Our  Six  Homes  —  Many  Absences  Make  Home  More  Precious  — ^Our  Children 
and  Children-in-Law  —  Pleasant  Home  Evenings  —  Home  Games  —  Hikes 
with  My  Boys  —  Family  Prayers 678 

Chapter  LX 

Year  1922 

WHAT  MY   RELIGION  MEANS  TO  ME 

Little  Time  for  Religious  Controversy  —  A  Covenant,  Not  a  Creed  —  Ups  and 
Downs  of  Religious  Experience  —  General  O.  O.  Howard  —  Stonewall 
Jackson  —  Instant  in  Prayer  —  More  Thanksgivings  Than  Petitions  — 
My  Religion  in  a  Sentence 687 

Chapter  LXI 

Years  1851-1922 

CHANGES   IN  THREE-SCORE  YEARS  AND  TEN 

Seven  Wonderful  Decades  —  Many  Administrations  — ■  Anti-Slavery  —  Pro- 
hibition—  Woman  Suffrage  —  The  Victorian  Era  —  Morals  and  Religion 
—  Marvellous  Inventions  —  The  World  War  and  Its  Effects  —  A  Closing 
Word  of  Optimism      693 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Portraitof  Dr.  Clark Frontispiece 

The  Present  Symmes  Homestead  in  Winchester,  Mass 8 

Cherry  Cottage it 

The  Old  Clark  Homestead  in  Tewksbury,  Mass 17 

My  Mother 22 

My  Mother,  with  her  Two  Sons 24 

Group  of  Dr.  Clark's  Pictures 28 

My  Adopted  Father,  Rev.  Edward  W.  Clark 31 

My  Adopted  Mother 33 

Dr.  Edwards  A.  Park 59 

Harriet  Elizabeth  Abbott  at  Thirteen 63 

Harriet  Elizabeth  Abbott  in  1876 65 

Williston  Chapel 68 

Williston  Congregational  Churcli,  Portland,  Me 71 

The  Mizpah  Mission  Circle 79 

Williston  Parsonage  in  188 1 80 

Mr.  Granville  Staples 82 

Original  Copy  of  the  Constitution,  Accepted  by  the  First  Christian  Endeavorers  85 

Former  Officers  U.  S.  C.  E 89 

William  Shaw 93 

George  B.  Graff 96 

A  Corner  in  the  Library  of  Dr.  Clark's  Home  in  Aiiburndale,  Mass 103 

A  Busy  Street  of  Sydney,  New  South  Wales 112 

Some  Leading  Christian  Endeavorers  of  Cairo  on  a  Picnic 119 

One  of  the  Great  Mosques  of  Constantinople 123 

The  Ceremony  of  Selamlik 127 

Hon.  Samuel  B.  Capen 135 

Secretaries  Afield  U.  S.  C.  E 138 

Officers  U.  S.  C.  E 139 

Secretary  John  Willis  Baer  and  Family 141 

George  W.  Coleman 144 

Some  of  the  Earlier  Trustees  U.  S.  C.  E 147 

Camping  in  Maine 152 

Camp  Dean 154 

A  Japanese  Christian  Endeavor  Leader  and  Family 159 

Rev.  John  Pollock  and  his  Wife  and  Son;  Rev.  James  Mursell,  Miss  Elsie  Pollock, 

and  Dr.  Clark 165 

The  Organ  Cactus  of  Mexico 182 

The  Leaders  of  Christian  Endeavor  in  Jamaica  in  1898 185 

Percy  S.  Foster 191 

The  Christian  Endeavor  Chorus,  Washington,  D.  C,   1896 I93 

The  Press  Tent  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Convention  in  Detroit 199 

xix 


XX  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Acres  of  Diamonds 214 

Parsonage  of  the  First  Andrew  Murray,  Graaf  Reinet,  Cape  Colony 218 

George  Murray's  Family  with  Fifteen  Children 221 

Old  Examination  Cells,  Now  Abolished 227 

A  Chinese  Soldier  in  the  Regular  Army  in  1900 233 

A  Flash  of  Lightning 245 

Our  Fifth-Class  Cars  on  the  Trans-Baikal  Train 249 

Prison  Barge 250 

A  Prison  Car  on  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway 251 

Our  Fellow  Passengers  on  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway     .    .    .    .  ■ 253 

Children  of  Prince  Bernadotte's  Family 261 

The  Ice-Breaker  Opening  a  Path  for  Our  Steamer 265 

Mrs.  Tsilka  and  her  Baby  Elenka 267 

Street  in  Thorshaven,  Faroe  Islands 271 

Dr.  Clark  and  His  Son  Fishing  for  Trout  in  Iceland 275 

A  Bit  of  Iceland  Scenery 276 

Lyell  Bridge,  New  Zealand 283 

Mangapapa  Falls,  New  Zealand 285 

In  the  Fern  Forests  of  Queensland,  Australia 289 

The  Principal  Street  in  Durban ' 295 

A  Roman  Temple  of  Pola 313 

A  Christian  Endeavor  Convention 323 

A  Church  in  Devasted  Kingston 330 

Culebra  Cut  When  the  Panama  Canal  was  Built 336 

Our  Little  Train  in  a  Landslide  on  the  High  Peruvian  Andes 341 

The  Christ  of  the  Andes 348 

Botofogo  Bay,  Rio  de  Janeiro 355 

Mt.  Corcovado,  Rio  de  Janiero 358 

Our  Arrival  at  the  Convention  City,  Agra,  1909 374 

The  Viceregal  Encampment 375 

World's  Christian  Endeavor  Convention  in  Agra 379 

The  Taj  Mahal 383 

Triumphal  Arch  in  Nagasaki 391 

The  Abandoned  Old  Farmhouse  at  Sagamore  Beach 400 

The  Lily  Pond  in  the  "Sunken  Orchard" 402 

The  Clark  Family  To-day 403 

Polish  Peasants 409 

Ruins  of  Temple  of  Jupiter  in  Athens 424 

Mars  Hill,  Athens 429 

The  Riverside 438 

The  Whirling  Dervishes  of  Iconium 44^ 

Courtyard  of  the  Mosque  of  the  Whirling  Dervishes  in  Iconium 443 

The  Guest  House  of  Lystra 444 

A  Very  Old  Fountain  in  Lystra 447 

Pergamum,  One  of  the  Seven  Cities  of  Revelation 457 

A  Street  in  Smyrna 461 

Among  the  Ruins  of  Ephesus 4^4 

The  Fountain  of  the  Virgin,  Nazareth 478 


ILLUSTRATIONS  XXI 

PAGE 

Ancient  Norwegian  Church 496 

World's  Christian  Endeavor  Building,  Boston,  Mass Facing  520 

The  Great  Chicago  Convention  in  1915 527 

Choir  of  the  Chicago  Convention,  1915 531 

A  Street  in  Honolulu 535 

Representatives  of  Twenty-Six  Races  and  Cross  Races 538 

Christian  Endeavor  Seamen's  Home,  Nagasaki,  Japan 543 

The  Great  Wall  of  China,  Near  the  Seacoast 561 

West  Lake,  Hangchow 570 

A  Common  Mode  of  Travel  in  China 571 

Fishing  with  Cormorants  in  China 572 

Another  Method  of  Going  to  a  Convention 574 

Mrs.  Clark,  her  Twin  Grandchildren,  and  her  Chickens 582 

The  Old  Abandoned  Farmhouse 585 

Trustees  and  Field-Secretaries  of  Christian  Endeavor,  at  Buffalo 589 

The  Christian  Endeavor  House  in  London 611 

President  Harding,  Christian  Endeavor  Alumnus 625 

Cherrj^  Cottage 633 

Spire  of  the  Wonderful  Cathedral  in  Freiburg 640 

The  Great  Monument  of  Kaiser  William  the  First  at  the  Junction  of  the  Rhine 

and  Moselle 643 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Clark  with  Two  Endeavor  Soldiers  in  Coblenz 646 

Christian  Endeavor  Office  Staff  at  German  Christian  Endeavor  Headquarters, 

Friedrichshagen  bei  Berlin 647 

Statue  of  John  Huss 649 

A  Junior  Society  in  Viecbork  (Vandsburg),  Poland 653 

Our  Summer  Home  at  Pine  Point,  Me.,  1880  to  1908 679 

Mrs.  Harriet  A.  Clark 681 

The  Living-room  in  the  Old  Farmhouse 682 

Colony  Day  in  Sagamore,  Mass 684 


Memories   of  Many   Men   in 
Many  Lands 

Chapter   I 
Years  1599— 1670 

MY    EARLY    ANCESTORS    IN    AMERICA 


THE      STRENUOUS      CAREER      OF    REV.      ZECHARIAH      SYMMES 

ANNE    HUTCHINSON   AND   THE    QUAKERS THE    LAND    OF 

NOD HOW     MY     FIRST     AMERICAN     ANCESTOR     HELPED 

ME     THROUGH     COLLEGE THE     CLARK     BRANCHES     OF 

THE    FAMILY  TREE. 

UTOBIOGRAPHIES,  except  by  the  most 
distinguished  of  men,  often  appear  to  me  to 
savor  of  egotism,  since  they  seem  to  imply 
that  the  writer  thinks  that  other  people  are 
anxious  to  know  what  he  has  been,  and  done. 
Nevertheless  I  am  going  to  lay  myself  open 
to  this  same  charge,  since  many  friends  have  asked  me  to 
write  down  these  reminiscences,  and  have  assured  me  that 
they  would  be  of  interest,  not  only  to  my  own  children,  but 
to  the  larger  family  of  Christian  Endeavorers,  and,  possibly, 
to  an  even  wider  circle.  , 

A  further  reason  which  I  have  in  my  own  mind  for  these 
reminiscences  is  the  fact  that  the  character  of  my  work  and 
the  organization  that  I  have  especially  represented,  have 
brought  me  in  contact,  during  the  last  forty  years,  with  some 
of  the  foremost  men  of  our  times,  and  other  interesting  char- 


2  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

actersj  and,  however  uninspiring  a  man's  own  life  may  be, 
his  memories  and  his  estimate  of  others  who  have  Tielped  to 
make  the  history  of  his  generation  are  not  without  interest. 

Now  that  I  have  more  than  reached  the  age  of  three-score 
years  and  ten  alloted  to  man  by  the  Psalmist,  and  have  been 
reminded  of  the  uncertainty  of  life  by  a  severe  illness  and  a 
more  severe  operation,  as  well  as  by  two  or  three  somewhat 
narrow  escapes  from  a  violent  death,  I  have  decided  to  write 
down,  in  as  orderly  a  fashion  as  I  can,  the  events  of  the  last 
one  and  seventy  years,  so  far  as  they  have  touched  my  little 
orbit. 

It  is  the  fashion  of  some  autobiographers  to  begin  with 
their  remote  ancestors,  but  few  Americans  care  to  go  further 
back  than  to  the  days  when  their  first  forbears  crossed  the 
salt  seas  for  a  home  in  the  new  world. 

Following  this  precedent,  I  will  say  that  my  first  ancestor 
in  America  was  Rev.  Zechariah  Symmes,  who  was  born  at 
Canterbury  in  England  in  1599.  He  was  educated  at  Em- 
manuel College,  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  where  he 
was  graduated  in  1620. 

He  was  evidently  of  stern,  nonconformist  stock,  for  Cotton 
Mather  tells  us  that  Rev.  William  Symmes,  the  father, 
charged  his  sons,  Zechariah  and  William,  "  never  to  defile 
themselves  with  any  idolatry  or  superstition,  but  to  derive 
their  religion  from  God's  Holy  Word,  and  to  worship  God  as 
He  himself  has  directed,  and  not  after-  the  devices  and  tradi- 
tions of  men." 

That  Zechariah  followed  his  reverend  father's  instructions, 
and  perhaps  improved  upon  them,  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that 
he  was  frequently  harassed  by  prosecutions  in  the  bishops' 

courts,  of  which  the  redoubtable  persecutor,  William  Laud, 
was  then  the  head.  This  was  some  twenty  years  before  Arch- 
bishop Laud's  own  head  fell  on  Tower  Hill  in  London,  "  for 
his  agency  in  subverting  the  liberties  of  England." 

Without  any  premonition  of  what  was  to  happen  to  him 


MY    EARLY    ANCESTORS    IN    AMERICA  3 

when  fortune's  wheel  should  revolve  again,  Laud  made  it 
very  hot*  for  Zechariah  Symmes,  and  compelled  him  to  leave 
London,  where  he  was  lecturer  at  St.  Anthony's,  and  to  re- 
move to  Dunstable  in  1625,  where  he  acted  as  rector  for  the 
eight  following  years. 

Of  my  visit  to  Emmanuel  College  and  to  Dunstable  in 
1920  when  on  the  track  of  my  ancient  progenitor,  I  will 
speak  later,  and  will  only  add  at  this  point  that  Laud  and  his 
persecuting  myrmidons  followed  Zechariah  to  Dunstable. 
Feeling  that  he  could  have  no  peace  in  England,  he  sailed 
with  his  wife  and  seven  children  in  the  ship  "  Griffin,"  for 
Boston,  where  he  arrived  September  18,  1634.  This  family 
counted  nine  among  the  two  hundred  immigrants  on  the 
"  Griffin,"  among  whom  was  the  famous  and  somewhat  can- 
tankerous Anne  Hutchinson,  who  made  so  much  trouble  for  the 
Puritans  in  later  years. 

Very  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Boston,  on  a  fast  day  ap- 
pointed for  the  occasion,  Mr.  Symmes  was  elected  and  ordained 
the  teacher  of  the  church  in  Charlestown.  This  church  already 
had  a  pastor,  the  Rev.  Thomas  James,  who  had  been  with  it 
since  its  organization  two  years  before,  but  after  the  coming  of 
my  ancestor  he  seems  to  have  confined  himself  to  pastoral 
labor,  while  Mr.  Symmes  did  the  work  of  preacher  and  teacher. 

It  is  interesting  to  recall  that  the  first  church  in  Boston  was 
originally  formed  in  Charlestown,  July  30,  1630,  and  for  some 
time  met  for  worship  under  the  shadow  of  a  great  oak.  It 
was  soon  found,  however,  that  it  was  difficult  for  the  large 
families  of  those  days  to  cross  the  Charles  River,  especially 
in  the  winter,  so  the  church  was  removed  to  Boston,  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Charles,  where  a  majority  of  its  members  re- 
sided, and  the  new  church  of  which  I  have  been  speaking  was 
organized  in  Charlestown  in  1632.  This  church  is  still  in  ex- 
istence and  not  long  since  I  had  the  privilege  of  preaching  to 
its  present  day  congregation. 

Alas,  there  were  ministerial  differences  in  the  seventeenth 


4  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

century,  as  in  the  twentieth.  It  is  often  difficult  for  two 
clergymen  of  different  temperaments,  though  equally  good 
men,  to  work  together  in  the  same  church.  It  was  so  in  this 
case.  The  majority  of  the  people  sided  with  Mr.  Symmes, 
while  Mr.  James  sought  fresh  fields  and  pastures  new  in 
Providence,  New  Haven,  and  Virginia,  and  afterwards  re- 
turned to  England,  a  good  and  true  man  and  faithful  servant 
of  Christ  to  the  end  of  his  long  life. 

Another  distinguished  member  of  the  Charlestown  church 
was  Rev.  John  Harvard,  who  came  three  years  later  than 
Mr.  Symmes,  and  who  had  graduated  at  the  same  college  in 
Cambridge. 

It  is  thought  by  some  that  he  was  for  a  time  a  colleague  of 
Mr.  Symmes.  This  is  probably  a  mistake,  for  he  died  of 
consumption  a  year  after  reaching  America,  but  not  before 
he  had  immortalized  himself,  and  perpetuated  his  name 
throughout  all  coming  generations,  by  willing  one-half  of 
all  his  property,  to  the  amount  of  779  pounds,  17  shillings, 
and  two  pence,  to  the  great  college  which  bears  his  name, 

I  have  a  dim  suspicion  that  my  honored  ancestor,  strong 
and  noble  man  though  he  was,  was  somewhat  difficult  to  get 
along  with,  for  he  not  only  seems  to  have  had  some  trouble 
with  his  colleague,  Mr.  James,  but  was  one  of  the  most  mili- 
tant of  those  involved  in  the  celebrated  controversy  with  Mrs. 
Anne  Hutchinson  and  the  Antinomians.  He  did  not  enjoy 
her  company  on  the  voyage,  and  did  not  believe  in  the  special 
revelations  with  which  she  regaled  him.  Nor  did  he  at  all 
approve  of  the  meetings  which  she  held  after  reaching  shore. 
But  she  gave  as  good  as  he  sent,  and  denounced  him  and  his 
confreres  roundly  for  "  holding  to  a  covenant  of  works." 
The  end  was  the  banishment  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson  from  the 
Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  as  every  one  knows. 

This  Puritan  pastor  seems  to  have  been  involved  also  in 
the  trouble  with  the  Quakers.  I  am  glad  to  say  that,  so  far  as 
I  know,  he  had  nothing  to  do  with  banishing  any  of  them, 


MY    EARLY    ANCESTORS    IN    AMERICA  5 

though  he  seems  to  have  annoyed  them  by  his  visits  to  them 
while  in  prison,  for  "  religious  conversation  suited  to  their 
needs."  For  this  and  similar  efforts,  we  read,  "  he  was  griev- 
ously reviled  by  the  Quakers." 

I  wonder  what  these  "  similar  efforts  "  were.  I  fear  they 
may  refer  to  something  besides  "  religious  conversation."  But 
we  must  remember  that  some  of  the  Quakers  of  those  days 
were  very  unlike  the  delightful,  peace-loving  citizens  who 
bear  that  name  to-day,  for  we  read  that  in  some  places  their 
conduct  was  in  the  highest  degree  "  turbulent  and  provoking." 
"  Margaret  Brewster,"  it  is  said,  "  went  into  a  meeting-house 
with  her  face  smeared  with  black  paint.  Deborah  Wilson  went 
throughHhe  streets  of  Salem  naked,  as  a  sign  of  her  adherence 
to  the  naked  truth.  Lydia  Wardwell  went  into  a  meeting- 
house in  Newbury  as  naked  as  she  was  born."  Many  opened 
their  shops  on  the  Lord's  Day  in  defiance  of  the  laws,  so  that 
the  Rev.  Zechariah  and  his  fellows  had  excuses  for  their  harsh- 
ness which  are  not  generally  recognized. 

Toward  the  end  of  his  life  another  controversy,  which  must 
have  been  painful  at  the  time,  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the 
First  Baptist  Church  in  Boston.  The  evil  tree  of  discord  thus 
for  once  bore  good  fruit,  in  multiplying  strong  evangelical 
churches  throughout  all  the  confines  of  the  city.  It  seems 
that  one  of  the  members  of  Mr.  Symmes'  church  —  one 
Thomas  Gould  —  would  not  bring  his  infant  child  for  bap- 
tism. In  fact  the  boy  lived  to  be  ten  years  old,  and  still 
the  symbolic  water  had  not  been  sprinkled  on  his  brow.  The 
father  was  repeatedly  admonished,  and  at  length,  in  the  year 
1665,  with  others,  was  excommunicated,  and  they  then  formed 
the  First  Baptist  Church  in  Boston.  This  unhappy,  yet  happy 
event,  marks  the  contrast  between  the  seventeenth  and  the 
twentieth  centuries. 

Mr.  Symmes'  salary  during  most  of  his  ministerial  life  was 
ninety  pounds  sterling  a  year,  a  very  good  stipend  for  those 
days,  for  only  one  other  minister,  the  eminent  John  Cotton  of 


6  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Boston,  had  as  much.  Moreover  the  town  of  Charlestown 
was  generous  to  this  long-time  and  greatly  honored  pastor,  and 
gave  him  a  tract  of  three  hundred  acres  of  land  now  in  the 
thriving  town  of  Winchester  "  extending  from  the  north  end 
of  Mystic  Pond  to  the  borders  of  Woburn."  At  another  time 
it  gave  him  three  hundred  acres  more  in  the  "  Land  of  Nod," 
now  within  the  borders  of  Wilmington.  The  latter  gift  re- 
ceived the  name  of  the  region  to  which  Cain  banished  himself, 
because  it  was  such  a  forlorn  district  and  so  far  from  any 
church,  and  as  Mr.  Symmes'  twelfth  part  of  the  Land  of  Nod 
was  valued  when  he  died  at  only  five  pounds,  the  region  proba- 
bly deserved  its  name.  A  small  portion  of  these  original 
grants  has  remained  in  different  branches  of  the  Symmes 
family  to  the  present  day,  and,  when  a  boy,  a  number  of  these 
acres  in  so-called  "  Turkey  Swamp  "  in  Winchester,  which 
belonged  to  me,  were  sold  for  a  few  hundred  dollars  which 
went  toward  my  college  education. 

I  have  dwelt  at  some  length  on  the  life  of  old  Zechariah, 
because  of  his  unique  personality,  and  because  his  life  touched 
so  many  of  the  most  interesting  events  in  the  early  history  of 
Massachusetts. 

The  Reverend  Zechariah  ended  his  useful  and  strenuous 
career  February  4,  1670,  having  been  pastor  of  the  church  in 
Charlestown  for  more  than  thirty-five  years,  and  to  the  very 
end  of  his  days.  So  much  honored  was  he  that  he  was  buried 
at  the  expense  of  the  town,  and  on  his  tombstone  they  en- 
graved his  eulogy,  two  lines  of  which  run  as  follows: 

"  A  prophet  lies  beneath  this  stone, 
His  words  shall  live  thous^h  he  be  o-one." 

He  left  behind  him,  besides  a  good  name  and  a  modest 
fortune,  a  devoted  and  noble  wife  and  ten  children,  three 
others  having  died  before  their  father.  From  this  good  man  I 
am  descended  in  the  eighth  generation,  having  for  my  forbears 
his  son  William,  and  his  son  William,  then  three  Johns  in 


MY    EARLY    ANCESTORS    IN    AMERICA  7 

succession,  while  my  father  broke  the  hundred-year  line  of 
Johns  by  being  named  Charles.    , 

The  militant  spirit  of  Zechariah  seems  to  have  descended 
to  many  of  his  descendants,  for  not  a  few  of  them  fought  in  the 
Revolutionary  War.  The  second  John  in  the  series  of  my 
ancestors  was  Captain  John  Symmes  of  the  Revolutionary  army. 
He  was  one  of  the  Medford  Company,  commanded  by  Cap- 
tain Isaac  Hall,  which  marched  to  Charlestown  on  the  memo- 
rable seventeenth  of  June,  1775,  but  reached  Bunker  Hill  just 
too  late  to  take  part  in  that  fight.  He  made  up  for  it,  however, 
by  enlisting  for  three  years,  and  was  doubtless  engaged  in 
many  battles,  though  the  particulars  of  his  military  career  have 
not  been  preserved.  At  the  close  of  the  three  years  he  came 
home,  "  ragged  and  emaciated,"  we  are  told.  He  was  paid  in 
the  depreciated  currency  of  the  day,  all  of  which  he  gave  for  a 
yoke  of  oxen.  The  oxen  he  sold  and  took  his  pay  in  the  same 
currency,  which  he  kept  for  a  short  time,  while  it  constantly 
depreciated,  and  then  paid  it  all  for  a  bag  of  Indian  meal,  so 
that  the  net  financial  results  of  his  three  years  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  seems  to  have  been  one  bag  of  corn  meal. 

Mahomet  Ali,  an  old  man  who  had  served  many  years 
in  the  Turkish  army,  once  told  me  that  he  received  no  pay  at 
all,  but  when  he  was  discharged  was  given  a  ragged  red  Turk- 
ish fez,  —  the  only  soldier  of  whom  I  know  who  fared  worse 
financially  than  my  ancestor,  John  the  second. 

Another  descendant  of  Zechariah  Symmes,  though  not  in 
my  direct  line,  married  General  William  Henry  Harrison, 
the  eighth  president  of  the  United  States.  That  his  wife, 
Anna  Symmes,  had  a  strong  religious  influence  over  old  "  Tip- 
pecanoe "  is  indicated  by  the  well-authenticated  fact  that  dur- 
ing the  presidential  canvass  of  1840  a  company  of  politicians 
from  Cincinnati  visited  the  candidate  at  North  Bend. 
"  General  Harrison  met  them  at  some  place  near  by,  and, 
extending  his  hand  courteously,  said,  *  Gentlemen,  I  should  be 
most  happy  to  welcome  you  on  any  other  day,  but  if  I  had  no 


8 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 


regard  for  religion  myself,  I  have  too  much  respect  for  the 
religion  of  my  wife  to  encourage  the  violation  of  the  Chris- 
tian Sabbath.' " 

So  far  as  I  know  there  have  been  no  scalawags  among  the 
descendants  of  Zechariah  Symmes,  though  had  there  been,  pos- 
sibly their  misdeeds  would  not  have  been  recorded  in  the 
family  memorial.  There  was,  however,  one  harmless  but 
somewhat  distinguished  crank,  who  created  a  very  considerable 
sensation  in  his  day  with  his  theory  of  "  Concentric  Spheres 


The  Present  Symmes  Homestead  in  Winchester,  Mass. 
Built  by  Deacon  John  Symmes  in  1806. 

and  Polar  Voids."  This  was  Captain  John  Cleves  Symmes, 
who  fought  in  the  war  of  1 8 1 2  and  received  from  his  superior 
officer  "  honorable  mention  "  for  his  bravery  at  the  Siege  of 
Fort  Erie.  After  the  war  he  had  time  to  turn  his  attention  to 
the  interior  of  the  earth,  and  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
"  the  earth  was  hollow,  habitable  within,  and  widely  open 
about  the  Poles."  An  elaborate  book  was  written  to  prove 
this  theory,  and  he  dici  his  best  to  induce  Congress  to  fit  out 
an  expedition  to  explore  these  concave  regions,  and  visit  the 
inside  of  the  earth.  A  hard-hearted  Congress,  however, 
would  not  make   the  appropriation,  and   he  died   a  broken- 


MY    EARLY    ANCESTORS    IN    AMERICA  9 

hearted  man  with  his  fantastic  theories  still  the  ruling  passion 
of  his  life. 

In  visiting  the  second  President  Harrison,  a  very  distant 
cousin,  at  his  home  in  Indianapolis  we  had  a  hearty  laugh 
over  the  vagaries  of  our  common  relative. 

Of  the  Clark  branch  of  my  family  tree  I  do  not  know 
as  much  as  of  the  Symmes  branch,  but  I  have  no  less  reason 
to  be  proud  of  its  honorable  record  so  far  as  I  know  it. 

The  first  ancestor  of  that  name  of  whom  I  have  any  certain 
knowledge  was  Rev.  Thomas  Clark,  ,who  was  born  in  Boston 
in  1652,  the  son  of  Elder  Jonas  Clark,  graduated  at  Harvard 
in  1670,  and  was  settled  as  pastor  in  Chelmsford,  Mass.,  the 
same  year.  He  died  in  1704.  As  the  Scripture  genealogy 
would  put  it,  Thomas  begat  Jonas,  and  Jonas  begat  Thomas, 
and  that  Thomas  another  Thomas,  and  that  Thomas  an 
Oliver,  who  was  my  grandfather.  All  the  descendants  of  the 
first  Thomas  appear  to  have  been  sturdy  and  godly  men.  My 
own  grandfather.  Deacon  Oliver  Clark,  was  certainly  a  man 
of  this  type.  He  lived  in  the  town  of  Tewksbury,  Mass., 
on  a  farm  lying  on  the  edge  of  the  city  of  Lowell,  and  now 
incorporated  within  its  limits.  For  nearly  half  a  century  he 
was  deacon  in  a  church  in  Tewksbury,  and  afterwards  in 
the  High  Street  Church  of  Lowell.  He  brought  up  a  family 
of  five  daughters  and  three  sons,  who  lived  to  honor  their 
father's  memory,  some  of  them  to  extreme  old  age. 

At  one  time  it  was  said  that  the  old  deacon  had  thirty-three 
descendants,  all  of  whom  were  members  "  in  good  and  regular 
standing "  of  the  Orthodox  Congregational  Church,  a  dis- 
tinction which  meant  something  in  those  days  of  strict  examina- 
tion for  church  membership. 

But  I  have  written  enough  about  my  remoter  ancestors. 
It  will  be  a  more  congenial  task  to  tell  of  those  who  were 
nearer  and  dear  to  me. 

The  fourth  child  of  Deacon  Oliver  and  Nancy  Huse  Clark, 
his  first  wife,  was  Lydia  Fletcher  Clark,  my  own  dear  mother, 
to  whom  I  shall  devote  another  chapter. 


Chapter  II 

Years   1840— 1854 

MY    FATHER 


MY      BIRTHPLACE 


PIONEERING      IN      CANADIAN      FORESTS 


THE      MIGHTY      OTTAWA 
TERRIBLE    EPIDEMIC 


AYLMER      AND      BYTOWN 

A  widow's  grief. 


FIRST  opened  my  eyes  upon  "  this  goodly 
frame,  the  earth,"  on  September  12,  1851, 
in  the  little  frontier  village  of  Aylmer, 
Province  of  Quebec,  or  Lower  Canada,  as 
it  was  then  called.  How  I  happened  to  be 
born  in  the  Queen's  Dominions,  rather  than 
in  the  old  Bay  State  where  my  ancestors  had  lived  for  more 
than  two  centuries,  will  appear  a  little  later. 

At  that  time  Aylmer  was  very  near  the  confines  of  civiliza- 
tion. Vast  and  almost  untrodden  forests  stretched  to  the 
north  and  the  west.  The  town  itself  was  of  considerable  im- 
portance, the  seat  of  a  court-house,  a  jail,  and  three  or  four 
churches,  and  was  the  largest  village  in  that  vicinity.  The 
city  of  Ottawa,  now  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  flourish- 
ing capitals  in  the  world,  was  then  called  Bytown,  and  a  lum- 
bering stage-coach  every  day  ploughed  through  the  mud  of 
spring,  or  the  dust  of  summer,  or  the  driving  snows  of  winter 
between  Aylmer,  the  metropolis,  and  Bytown,  the  suburb. 
The  tables  have  long  since  been  turned,  however,  and  now 
Aylmer  is  the  suburb  and  watering-place  of  the  beautiful  capi- 
tal with  which  it  is  connected  by  a  fast  trolley  line. 

My  earliest  memories  are  connected  with  the  mighty  Ottawa 
River,  on  whose  banks  Aylmer  is  situated,  and  the  great  rafts, 
sometimes  twenty  acres  in  extent,  which  went  floating  by  day 


3- 

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MY    FATHER  I3 

after  day  in  the  spring  time.  On  these  rafts  whole  families 
would  live  for  weeks  at  a  time,  as  they  came  slowly  down 
the  mighty  current,  for  the  Ottawa  at  Aylmer  spreads  out  into 
a  lake  three  miles  wide.  It  was  this  great  river,  with  the 
vast  virgin  forests  which  lined  its  banks,  and  extended  for 
hundreds  of  miles  into  the  interior,  that  led  my  father, 
Charles  Carey  Symmes,  to  leave  his  home  in  Winchester, 
Mass.,  and  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  untamed  wilderness. 
Other  enterprising  young  men  of  the  Symmes  family,  and 
still  others  of  the  names  of  Wright  and  Eddy  from  Mass- 
achusetts, had  preceded  him. 

It  was  intended  at  first,  doubtless,  as  a  temporary  migra- 
tion for  business  purposes,  and  my  father  was  always  an 
American  citizen,  so  that  when  I  came  to  be  of  voting  age  I 
did  not  have  to  be  naturalized.  My  father's  business  was 
that  of  a  civil  engineer  and  timber  locater,  and  his  duties  re- 
quired him  to  spend  weeks  and  months  at  a  time  in  the  heart 
of  the  wilderness,  locating  the  claims  of  the  owners  of  these 
vast  forests.  His  companions  were  largely  French  Canadians 
and  Indians,  and  I  have  learned  that  he  was  a  great  favorite 
with  his  men,  friendly,  and  good-natured,  and  always  ready 
to  help  them  in  an  emergency. 

The  hardships  of  such  a  life  would  be  unendurable  by 
men  of  softer  stuff,  for  it  involved  long  marches,  days  spent 
in  toil,  and  nights  often  with  only  the  blue  sky  for  a  tent. 
The  winters  in  those  northern  latitudes,  when  most  of  his  work 
in  the  forests  had  to  be  done,  were  appallingly  cold,  the  tem- 
perature sometimes  marking  fifty  degrees  below  zero,  so 
that  the  mercury  in  an  ordinary  thermometer  would  freeze 
solid,  and  could  be  fired  like  a  bullet  out  of  a  gun;  —  a  novel 
use  of  quicksilver,  once  made  by  my  father,  as  I  have  been 
told. 

To  this  frontier  home  in  Aylmer  my  father  took  his  young 
bride,  Lydia  Fletcher  Clark,  to  whom  he  was  married  on 
November   lO,    1840.     She  was  the  third  daughter  of   the 


14  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Deacon  Oliver  Clark  of  whom  I  have  before  spoken,  and 
in  her  veins  ran  some  of  the  blood  of  the  Daniel  Webster 
family.  Because  of  this  she  was  given  her  middle  name  of 
"  Fletcher."    Daniel  Webster's  oldest  son  bore  the  same  name. 

Here  I  may  as  well  stop  to  explain  how  my  name  happens 
to  be  Clark  while  my  father's  was  Symmes.  Before  I  was 
three  years  old  my  father  died,  and  my  mother  before  I  was 
eight.  At  her  request  I  was  adopted  by  my  uncle,  her  brother, 
Rev.  Edward  Warren  Clark,  for  whom  I  was  named,  so  far 
as  my  middle  name  is  concerned.  He  was  perhaps  her 
favorite  brother,  and  when  she  died,  and  at  her  request,  I  was 
legally  adopted  by  him.  To  save  complications  and  mis- 
understandings, which  seemed  to  me  far  more  important  as  a 
boy  than  they  would  now,  my  name  was  legally  changed  to 
Francis  Edward  Clark  by  the  "  Great  and  General  Court  of 
Massachusetts." 

Old  people  in  Canada  still  remember  the  terrible  visita- 
tion of  cholera  which  devastated  the  Province  in  1853— 1854. 
My  father's  business  called  him  to  Three  Rivers,  a  large  town 
on  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  midway  between  Montreal  and 
Quebec.  The  dreadful  plague  was  at  its  height,  having  been 
brought  from  the  Old  World  by  the  immigrants  who  were 
then  flocking  into  the  new.  Hundreds  of  them  died  before 
they  reached  their  destination.  On  a  St.  Lawrence  steamer 
my  father  travelled  with  the  infected  immigrants,  many  of 
whom,  from  time  to  time,  after  a  brief  struggle  with  this 
frightful  disease  yielded  to  it  and  were  immediately  buried. 
I  have  heard  it  said  (and,  from  his  general  character  I  believe 
the  story  is  true)  that  he  attempted  to  take  care  of  some  of 
these  poor  creatures  and  to  assuage  their  sufiFerings.  Just  be- 
fore reaching  Three  Rivers  he  himself  became  a  victim  to 
the  same  disease,  and  a  few  hours  after  being  put  on  shore,  so 
swiftly  does  the  virulent  poison  work,  he  died,  far  away  from 
his  wife  and  children. 

His  older  brother,  Henry,  however,  was  able  to  be  with  him 


MY    FATHER  1 5 

in  his  dying  hours,  and  he  is  buried  in  the  little  Protestant 
Cemetery  of  Three  Rivers.  His  comely  marble  monument, 
when  I  first  saw  it,  many  years  after  his  death,  was  shrouded 
almost  to  the  top  in  the  deep  Canadian  snow.  However  cold 
his  tomb,  I  believe  that  one  of  the  warmest  and  noblest  hearts 
beat  beneath  his  breast.  He  died  on  August  4,  1854,  shortly 
before  my  third  birthday,  and  it  is  not  strange  that  I  do  not 
remember  him  at  all.  Unfortunately  this  was  before  the  days 
of  photographs,  and  even  ambrotypes  were  rare,  so  that  I 
have  never  been  able  to  find  a  picture  of  my  father. 

I  cannot  better  close  this  chapter  than  by  quoting  a  sentence 
or  two  from  my  mother's  journal,  written,  as  she  supposed, 
only  for  her  own  eyes.  She  had  reached  Three  Rivers  shortly 
after  his  death,  but  not  before  his  interment  had  become  nec- 
essary. Again  four  years  afterwards  she  made  another  pil- 
grimage to  his  grave  and  wrote  as  follows: 

"  I  kissed  the  dear  sod  that  covered  him,  and  seemed  almost 
to  feel  his  loving  arms  about  me."  ..."  Four  years  ago 
today  my  beloved  husband  died.  Oh,  the  sad,  sad  day,  my 
beloved  Charles,  husband  of  my  youth,  thy  kind  and  loving 
heart,  that  ever  throbbed  with  love  to  wife  and  children, 
stilled  on  that  sad  day  its  beatings!  Beloved  of  my  heart, 
could  I  but  have  seen  you,  could  I  but  have  imprinted  one  kiss 
on  that  dear  brow,  could  I  have  felt  the  pressure  of  those  dear 
hands,  and  heard  the  last  loving  farewell !  But  it  was  not  the 
will  of  my  heavenly  Father,  and  He  doeth  all  things  well ;  and 
though  it  seems  dark  and  mysterious  now,  I  am  persuaded  that 
I  shall  one  day  see  that  it  was  all  for  the  best.  Though  our 
heavenly  Father  afflicts,  yet  He  is  a  God  of  love,  and  oh!  my 
soul,  forget  not  all  the  blessings  with  which  thy  days  have 
been  crowned  since  that  dark,  sad  day.  Thou  hast  had  health 
and  strength.  Thy  children  have  been  blessed  with  health. 
They  are  virtuous,  intelligent,  and  happy.  Thou  hast  been 
blessed  in  thy  labors,  so  that  thou  hast  not  lacked  for  food 
or  raiment.  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul,  and  all  that  is 
within  me,  bless  His  holy  name,  who  redeemeth  thy  life 
from  destruction,  who  crowneth  thee  with  lovingkindness 
and   tender   mercies." 


Chapter  III 
Years   i 8 14-1858 

MY    MOTHER 


HER     GIRLHOOD HER     EDUCATION     UNDER     MARY     LYON 

HER    CHARACTER HER    WONDERFUL    JOURNAL HER 

STRUGGLE    FOR    SELF-SUPPORT MY    BROTHER    CHARLES 

CHARLIE^S  DEATH. 

SUPPOSE  most  men  think  that  their  mothers 
.were  the  best  and  noblest  women  who  ever 
lived.  I  certainly  share  that  opinion  with 
Other  loyal  sons,  and  believe  that  my  esti- 
mate is  not  based  solely  upon  partiality  and 
affection.  The  testimony  that  has  come  to 
me  from  relatives  and  friends,  and  above  all  the  testimony  of 
her  private  journal,  which  I  shall  always  thank  God  was  pre- 
served for  me,  tell  of  a  woman  unusually  gifted  in  intellect 
and  disposition,  while  the  ambrotype  which  I  have  since  had 
enlarged  speaks  to  every  one  who  sees  it  of  a  peculiarly 
sweet,  serene,  and  gentle  nature. 

For  the  sake  of  personal  friends  and  relatives,  and  for  the 
larger  circle  of  those  who  would  learn  how  to  bear  affliction 
and  unusual  sorrows  with  a  calm  trust  and  beautiful  resigna- 
tion, I  have  published  some  parts  of  this  journal  in  book 
form  for  private  distribution,  and  I  cannot  perhaps  do  better 
than  to  quote  in  this  chapter  some  paragraphs  from  this  jour- 
nal which  especially  reveal  this  character,  and  also  from  the 
preface  in  which  I  have  told  something  of  her  life. 

I  have  received,  literally,  hundreds  of  testimonies  from 
those  who  have  read  this  little  volume,  telling  of  the  comfort 

16  • 


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> 


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MY    MOTHER  I9 

it  has  given  them,  of  the  new  sense  of  the  Father's  presence 
in  the  midst  of  their  own  afflictions,  and  of  the  new  revela- 
tion it  has  been  to  them  of  how  a  Christian  may  live  and  die. 

Of  course  her  journal  was  not  written  for  publication, — 
far  from  it,  —  my  mother  probably  never  thought  that  even 
her  own  children  would  read  it,  for  otherwise  she  could  not 
have  poured  out  her  heart  so  frankly  and  ingenuously.  She 
seems  to  be  simply  talking  with  herself  and  her  God  as 
she  writes. 

But  after  these  nearly  seventy  years  I  am  betraying  no  heart 
secrets  in  quoting  some  of  it,  and  if  it  can  help  others  to  a 
higher  Christian  life,  she  herself  would  have  me  use  it  in  this 
way.     But  first  a  few  words  about  her  life. 

Lydia  Fletcher  Clark  was  born  September  30,  18 14,  and 
was  noted  even  in  her  girlhood  for  a  peculiar  faculty  of  en- 
dearing herself  to  family  and  friends.  Brought  up  in  the  old 
New  England  regime,  her  father  a  Puritan  deacon  of  the  old 
school,  a  regime  sometimes  thought  to  have  been  stern  and 
narrow,  herself  one  of  the  older  sisters  in  a  large  family  of 
children,  she  added  to  sweetness,  strength,  and  to  gentleness, 
nobility  of  character,  and  to  winsomeness,  womanliness,  and 
to  innocent  purity,  unselfish  love  to  God  and  man. 

Even  in  these  early  days  Lydia  Clark  was  noted,  not  only 
for  her  gentleness  and  strength,  but  for  a  certain  poetic  gift 
to  which  her  journal  testifies,  which  led  her  partial  brothers 
and  sisters  to  call  her  "  Mrs.  Sigourney  the  Second,"  Mrs. 
Sigourney  was  then  the  fashion,  and  was  considered  a  much 
greater  poetess  than  future  times  have  been  willing  to  admit, 
so  that  then  the  compliment  was  a  more  thorough-going  one 
than  it  seems  after  the  lapse  of  three-score  years. 

Another  formative  influence  of  value  in  her  life  was  her 
school  life  under  the  celebrated  Mary  Lyon,  the  foremost 
woman  whom  America  has  produced,  in  the  old  Academy  at 
Ipswich,  Mass.,  before  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary  was 
founded.     I  long  preserved  a  diary,  bound  in  an  old  bit  of 


20  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

newspaper,  written  in  my  mother's  school-girl  hand,  recording 
the  words  of  Mary  Lyon  at  chapel  exercises.  This  diary  I 
afterwards  gave  to  Mount  Holyoke  College. 

At  about  the  age  of  twenty-five  she  married,  as  already  re- 
lated, the  man  of  her  choice,  Charles  Carey  Symmes,  and  her 
life  poem  grew  in  depth  and  beauty  and  heart  melody.  It 
was,  apparently,  a  perfect  union  of  hearts.  No  harsh  word,  no 
unkind  act,  ever  marred  it,  as  she  herself  has  declared,  and  it 
lasted,  in  all  the  intensity  of  its  love  and  devotion,  far  beyond 
the  grave. 

I  have  already  related  how  my  father  took  his  bride  to 
the  village  in  the  wilderness  on  the  banks  of  the  Ottawa. 
Here  their  children  were  born.  Charles  Henry,  Edward 
Carey,  Katherine  Noel,  Francis  Edward.  Edward  and 
Katherine  died  in  infancy,  but  the  eldest  and  youngest  lived 
to  grow  up,  the  eldest  a  remarkable  boy  whose  story  of  joyous 
life  and  triumphant  death  is  told  in  the  latter  part  of  my 
mother's  journal.  The  happy  years  flew  by,  —  happy  in  spite 
of  the  two  little  mounds  in  the  Aylmer  churchyard:  happy 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  loved  husband  was  away  from 
home  much  of  the  time,  in  the  wilderness  among  the  savage 
beasts  and  savage  men,  hewing  a  way  for  civilization. 

The  beautiful  wife  and  mother  interested  herself  in  the 
affairs  of  the  little  town,  took  an  active  part  in  church  life  and 
the  primitive  society  of  the  place,  and  left  her  impress,  the 
impress  of  a  sweet,  womanly.  Christlike  nature,  upon  all  whom 
she  touched. 

She  spent  one  winter  in  Berthier,  another  frontier  town  of 
Quebec,  and  here,  true  to  her  instincts,  at  once  began  to  make 
her  little  world  brighter  and  better.  Her  light  could  not  be 
hidj  it  shone  as  brightly  in  the  wilderness  as  in  the  city.  Full 
forty  years  after  she  left  Berthier  an  old  woman  came  to  me 
one  day  with  a  worn,  battered,  old-fashioned  Sunday-school 
book  in  her  hand,  saying,  "  Your  mother  formed  the  first 
Sunday  school  in  Berthier.     She  collected  a  library  for  us, 


MY    MOTHER  21 

and  we  have  cherished  those  books  ever  since  because  they 
came  from  her."  She  was  only  a  few  months  in  this  little 
log-house  metropolis,  but  the  impress  of  her  life  is  felt  to-day. 

Winters  and  summers  sped  away,  bringing  their  alternate 
varied  sunshine  and  cloud.  There  were  many  partings  in  the 
little  cottage  at  Aylmer,  as  the  loved  and  loving  husband  fre- 
quently set  out  for  "  the  bush  "  on  his  long  surveying  and 
lumber-locating  expeditions,  but  then  there  were  just  as  many 
home-comings  and  happy  reunions,  when,  for  a  few  days  or 
weeks,  all  too  brief,  the  family  at  Cherry  Cottage  (for  this 
was  the  name  of  the  little  house  my  father  had  built)  was 
reunited  again. 

Just  as  many  home-comings?  Alas!  there  was  one  less,  for 
once  in  the  summer  of  1854,  the  husband  kissed  his  wife  and 
left  their  home  for  the  last  time.  It  was  the  fatal  cholera 
year.  Old  inhabitants  still  recall  it  with  a  shudder.  The 
dread  disease,  imported  from  Europe  with  the  immigrants 
as  I  have  related,  secured  a  dreadful  and  sudden  grip  upon 
the  New  World. 

I  have  already  given  some  details  of  my  father's  death,  and 
of  my  mother's  hurried  journey  to  Three  Rivers  only  to  find 
her  beloved  one  buried  from  her  sight.  She  soon  returned 
to  the  lonely  home  in  Aylmer  and  to  her  two  fatherless  boys. 
But  now  we  see  the  noblest  part  of  a  noble  life,  the  four 
years  and  a  half  of  struggle  for  independence  that  ensued. 
She  had  not  come  from  sturdy  New  England  stock  for  noth- 
ing. The  blood  of  the  Puritans,  who  loved  independence, 
personal,  financial,  religious,  and  political,  flowed  in  her  veins. 
She  had  not  gone  to  Mary  Lyon's  school  in  vain. 

Necessity  was  laid  upon  her,  and  in  meeting  this  necessity 
in  the  spirit  of  cheerful  courage  and  abounding  love  to  God 
and  his  children  she  found  her  great  opportunity.  She 
opened  a  private  school.  Pupils  flocked  to  Cherry  Cottage. 
They  could  not  pay  much,  and  she  did  not  ask  muchj  but 
enough  to  keep  body  and  soul  together,  to  pay  her  modest 


22 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 


bills,  to  keep  her  children  with  her,  and  to  provide  something 
for  the  education  of  the  older  one.  A  few  boarding  pupils 
added  to  her  slender  income. 

Cherry  Cottage  became  the  centre  of  mirth  and  youthful 
good  spirits,  — ■  good  spirits  which  were  never  unduly  re- 
pressed by  the  gentle  mistress,  —  as  well  as  the  centre  of 
studious  habits  and  noble  character  building.  A  second  Mt. 
Holyoke  was  started  in  the  wilds  of  Canada  —  on  a  very 
small  scale,  it  is  true,  and  with  a  very  modest  prospectus  and 


My   Mother 

curriculum,  but  a  second  Mt.  Holyoke,  because  a  spirit  kin- 
dred to,  and  the  peer  of  Mary  Lyon,  presided  there. 

More  than  three  years  passed  away.  Of  the  last  two  the 
journal  tells  in  simple,  eloquent,  and  pathetic  words.  One 
more  great  billow  was  to  pass  over  this  patient  soul.  Her 
son  Charles  grew  up  to  be  a  manly,  strong,  wholesome,  fun- 
loving,  but  gentle  boy,  the  kind  of  boy  that  ripens  into  a  true 
gentleman.  Far  and  away  the  best  scholar  in  his  class  at 
school,  he  was  a  boy  who  was  not  ashamed  to  help  his  mother 
in  the  kitchen  and  the  garden.  An  earnest,  active  Christian 
and  communicant  of  the  same  Presbyterian  church  with  her, 


MY    MOTHER  23 

mother  and  son  walked  hand  in  hand.  At  first  he  leaned  the 
more  heavily  upon  herj  but,  as  he  grew  toward  manhood,  the 
weight  began  to  shift,  and  she  found  herself  leaning  upon  the 
strong,  filial  arm  of  Charles  the  son,  as  she  had  before  leaned 
upon  the  arm  of  Charles  the  father. 

He  never  disappointed  her,  but  returned  love  for  love  and 
answered  unselfish  care  ,with  a  care  as  unselfish  as  the  mother's. 
Daily  he  grew  to  be  her  pride,  her  support,  her  joy.  He  de- 
veloped literary  tastes  and  gifts,  and  a  long  story  of  much 
merit,  but  which  in  his  modesty  he  afterwards  burned,  was 
written  by  him.  His  future  was  full  of  the  largest  promise, 
as  his  present  was  of  the  largest  comfort  to  all  around  him. 

He  was  almost  seventeen,  but  care  and  responsibility 
seemed  to  have  added  half  a  dozen  years  to  his  age.  He  was 
a  full-grown  man  in  ability  to  share  his  mother's  burdens, 
though  still  a  child  in  his  tender  love,  when,  suddenly,  after 
a  few  days  of  illness  from  typhoid  fever,  this  staff  was  taken 
from  the  frail  woman,  and  the  mother-heart  was  wrenched 
from  its  last  earthly  support. 

So  much  has  been  foolishly  written  in  derision  of  precocious 
young  saints  that  have  died  in  their  teens,  and  of 
their  death-bed  scenes,  that  I  hesitate  to  print  the  account  from 
my  mother's  journal  of  the  last  hours  of  my  brother  Charles. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  he  was  not  only  an  earnest  Chris- 
tian, but  one  of  the  most  natural  and  healthy-minded  of  boys. 
There  was  nothing  sickly  or  morbid  in  his  disposition  j  his  life 
was  not  only  natural  but  even  exuberant  in  its  gayety. 

*'  I  will  write  a  short  account  of  my  dear  boy's  sickness 
and  death,"  writes  my  mother  in  her  journal,  "  it  may  at 
some  time  he  gratifying  to  his  little  brother  if  he  is  spared." 

After  describing  at  length  the  earlier  days  of  his  illness, 
she  continues,  "  Once  as  he  lay  upon  his  bed,  he  said, 
'  Mother,  I  think  this  sickness  will  do  me  good.'  I  said, 
'Why,  my  son?  '  thinking  he  meant  physically.  He 
answered,  '  I  have  had  a  great  many  good  thoughts,  since 
I  have  been  sick.      I  think  I  see  better  what  life  is  for;   at 


24  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

all  events,  I  shall  know  how  to  sympathize  with  those  who 
are  sick.'  Sometimes  he  spoke  of  the  time  when  he  should  be 
better  able  to  earn  some  money  for  me.  Sometimes  he  would 
say,  '  Perhaps  God  has  sent  this  illness  to  teach  us  to  be 
more  grateful  for  our  continued  health.'  But  he  always 
spoke  as  though  he  thought  his  own  sufferings  very  light 
compared    with    others.   ,    .  . 

"  Early  on  Sabbath  morning  I  became  calm  enough  to  ask 
him  if  he  were  willing  to  die  if  God  saw  fit.  With  great 
emphasis  he  replied,  '  I  am  willing  to  go  this  minute  if  God 
wills.'  I  said,  '  But  would  you  not  rather  stay  with  mother?  ' 
'  Of   course,  mother,   I   would   rather  stay   and   help  you   if 


My   Mother 
The  older  boy  is  my  brother  Charles.    I  am  in    the  centre. 

God  were  willing.'      I  said  no  more  then,  except  to  ask  him 
if  he  were  happy,  to  which  he  replied,   '  Perfectly  happy.' 

"  About  six  A.M.  the  doctor  came;  and  the  moment  he 
looked  at  him  he  said,  '  Oh,  Charlie,  you  are  going  to  leave 
us.'  He  looked  up  and  said,  '  I  am  perfectly  content,  doc- 
tor. I  am  very  happy.'  The  doctor  wept  like  a  child;  and 
as  he  stooped  to  kiss  the  dear  boy,  Charlie  said,  '  Good-by, 
doctor*,  I  am  very  happy.'  Turning  to  me  he  said,  '  We 
shall  meet  in  heaven,  mother.  I  shall  see  dear  papa  before 
you  do.'  Then  again,  '  God  will  be  with  you,  mother.'  To 
his  little  brother  whose  heart  seemed  breaking,  he  said, 
'Frank  must  be  a  good  boy;  he  must  be  a  Christian.  Oh, 
it  is  a  glorious  thing  to  be  a  Christian,' 


MY     MOTHER  2$ 

"  Many  of  his  young  companions  had  assembled  in  the 
room  and  were  weeping  around  the  bed.  They  came  up  one 
by  one,  and  he  kissed  them  and  bade  them  good-by  as  calmly 
and  composedly  as  if  he  had  been  going  a  short  journey. 

"  When  he  had  bid  them  all  good-by  I  said,  '  Will  you 
bid  me  good-by  now?  '  '  Oh,  no,  mother,'  he  said,  '  I  will 
bid  you  good-by  a  good  many  times  yet.'  He  asked  me  what 
day  is  was.  I  said  the  Sabbath.  '  Blessed  Sabbath!  '  he  ex- 
claimed, '  Is  it  not  a  glorious  death?  Are  you  not  satisfied, 
mother;  are  you  not  satisfied?  '  I  asked  him  once,  '  Are  you 
afraid  to  die,  my  son?  '  'Oh,  no,'  he  replied  with  em- 
phasis; then  as  if  fearing  I  might  think  him  self-confident, 
he  added,  '  I  know  that  I  have  done  a  thousand  things  that 
were  wrong,  but  I  am  sure  God  will  forgive  me  ';  then  hesi- 
tating as  if  for  breath,  I  added,  '  through  the  merits  of  Jesus 
Christ.'  '  Amen,'  he  responded,  in  a  clear  full  tone.  At 
another  time,  he  said,  '  Don't  be  at  much  expense  about  the 
funeral,  mother,  it  will  not  help  me  any.'  At  another  time 
he  said,  '  I  couldn't  write  your  epitaph,  mother.'  The  last 
words  I  could  catch  from  his  dying  lips  were,  '  Almost  home,' 
Thus  died  my  beloved  son  before  he  had  completed  his 
seventeenth  year,  ripe  for  heaven.  O  my  son,  my  blessed, 
blessed   son !  " 

Perhaps  I  may  be  permitted  to  call  attention  to  some 
striking  mental  and  spiritual  traits  which  my  mother's  journal 
reveals,  and  which  have  been  a  source  of  inspiration  and 
courage  to  many  who  have  read  it. 

Her  gratitude  and  thanksgiving  for  small  mercies,  as  she 
recorded  them  for  her  own  eye  only,  impress  me  most  pro- 
foundly, and  rebuke  my  own  ungrateful  life.  Many  a  woman 
in  her  circumstances  would  have  thought  she  had  very  little 
cause  for  gratitude.  A  widow  thrown  in  early  life  upon  her 
own  resources j  a  family  to  support  by  the  hard,  grinding  life 
of  a  schoolmistress;  far  from  her  childhood's  home  and  hun- 
dreds of  miles  from  most  of  her  relatives  and  early  friends, 
in  a  remote  though  not  inhospitable  frontier  village  j  — what 
had  she  to  be  peculiarly  grateful  for? 

Yet  almost  every  entry  is  a  psalm  of  thanksgiving.     In  the 


^6  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

smallest  occurrence  she  found  evidence  of  God's  peculiar 
goodness. 

The  ability  to  lay  in  a  winter's  supply  of  wood,  the  pay- 
ment of  a  just  debt  by  one  of  her  scholars,  the  kindness  of  a 
blacksmith  who  mended  some  kitchen  utensils  for  her,  the 
thoughtfulness  of  a  neighbor  in  putting  a  load  of  tanbark 
under  a  loose  foundation  to  keep  out  the  cold,  the  faithfulness 
of  the  kitchen-maid,  a  kind  note,  a  pleasant  call,  —  all  fill 
her  heart  with  gladness  and  her  lips  with  praise,  and  cause  her 
to  cry  out,  "  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul!  " 

Let  me  transcribe  a  few  lines: 

"February  7,  1857:  I  see  much,  very  much,  to  be  thank- 
ful for.  Almost  every  one  has  paid  his  bills,  and  I  have 
been  able  to  pay  all  I  owe,  and  have  a  little  left.  ...  I 
received  a  kind  note  from  Mrs.  Symmes  and  a  pleasant  call 
from  Mr.  Thompson." 

How  few  would  think  such  trivialities  worth  a  grateful 
thought!  Fewer  still  would  think  them  worth  recording  as 
special  mercies. 

"  February  18  —  .  —  To-day  I  was  better,  and  this  eve- 
ning feel  quite  well.  How  much  I  have  to  be  grateful  for 
in  my  continued  health! 

"March  23.  —  To-day  I  paid  for  thirty  cords  of  wood 
for  next  year's  use.  How  thankful  should  I  be  that  I  have 
the  means  for  my  family  when  many  a  poor  widow  sees  her 
children  suffer  with  cold  and  hunger!  To-day  I  received 
a  letter  from  Mrs.  S.  with  seven  pounds  for  her  daughter's 
board  and  tuition.      Oh,   for  a  grateful  heart! 

Most  people  would  think  the  collection  of  a  just  bill  that 
barely  enabled  her  to  live,  hardly  cause  for  a  sigh  of  gratitude. 

"November  13.  —  How  much  have  I  to  be  grateful  for 
that  I  am  surrounded  by  temporal  blessings  at  this  season  of 
the  year!  Let  me  enumerate  some  of  them.  I  have  a  good 
comfortable  house,  an  abundance  of  good,  dry  wood;  I  have 


MY    MOTHER  1'] 

on    hand   provisions  sufficient  or  nearly  so    for   three   months, 
anil   my   own   health   and   that  of   my   children    is   very  good. 
Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul,  and  all   that  is  within   me,  blesS' 
His  holy  name." 

"  October.  —  I  have  taken  a  new  bedroom  over  the 
kitchen,  which  is  very  warm  and  comfortable.  .  .  .  Truly 
the  Lord  is  good  and  will  not  suffer  the  soul  of  those  who 
trust  in  Him  to  want." 

Could  anything  show  more  plainly  the  possession  of  the 
"  merry  heart  "  that  doeth  good  like  a  medicine.? 

All  things  earthly,  too,  seemed  to  remind  her  of  their 
heavenly  prototypes.  Spring  comes  with  its  budding  flowers 
and  reminds  her  of  "  What  heaven  must  be,  where  no  thorns 
and  briers  intrude  among  the  flowers  and  fruits  that  bloom  in 
the  Paradise  of  God?  " 

The  mild  radiance  of  a  summer  night  calls  her  thought 
beyond  the  stars,  and,  as  she  thinks  of  the  loved  one  gone 
before,  she  cries  out,  "  Oh,  what  exquisite  scenery  may  he  not 
now  behold!  My  husband,  my  husband,  when  shall  I  join 
you?  " 

But  why  need  I  quote  more  when  every  page,  almost  every 
line,  breathes  an  other-worldliness,  a  heavenly  peace,  a  joy  in 
God,  a  sense  of  His  presence  and  of  the  absolute  reality  of 
eternal  things?     Thank  God  for  such  a  mother! 


Chapter  IV 
Years   i 856-1 869 

MY    BOYHOOD 


EARLIEST    MEMORIES MY     MOTHERS    DEATH  GOOD-BY    TO 

AYLMER BEAUTIFUL       AUBURNDALE MEMORIES       OF 

THE   CIVIL   WAR CLAREMONT ACADEMY   DAYS. 

OME  of  my  friends  surprise  me  by  telling 
me  that  their  early  memories  go  back  to  the 
time  when  they  were  only  three  years  old, 
or  to  two  and  a  half  years,  and  they  relate 
marvellous  tales  or  traditions  of  being  able  to 
read  the  Bible  before  their  fifth  birthday. 
But  not  being  a  precocious  boy,  I  have  no  such  marvels  to 
relate.  Indeed  my  first  distinct  memory  is  connected  with  my 
fifth  birthday,  when,  in  honor  of  the  event,  my  mother  and 
brother,  and  some  young  ladies  from  my  mother's  school,  took 
me  out  in  a  boat  on  the  big  Ottawa  River,  for  an  afternoon's 
excursion.  I  probably  should  not  remember  this  were  it  not 
for  the  fact  that  the  boat  ran  upon  a  submerged  rock  or  a 
shoal  and  was  hung  up  for  a  little  while,  a  circumstance  which 
frightened  me  very  much,  although  there  was  really  no 
danger. 

Indeed,  the  memories  of  all  my  days  in  Aylmer  look  dim 
and  hazy  through  the  mists  of  more  than  sixty  years.  But 
they  are  all,  with  the  exception  perhaps  of  the  little  episode 
on  the  Ottawa  River,  and  the  death  of  my  dear  brother  and 
mother,  exceedingly  pleasant  ones.  I  remember  no  hard  word 
or  unkind  speech  or  act  in  the  little  circle  of  Cherry  Cottage. 

28 


MY    BOYHOOD  29 

Always  the  atmosphere  was  cheerful,  and  usually  merry. 
My  mother  kept  her  sorrows  and  heartaches  for  her  private 
journal  and  hid  them  behind  its  covers.  I  remember  no 
gloom  or  suspicion  of  melancholy  in  the  little  circle. 

My  brother,  from  all  that  I  remember  and  all  that  I  am 
told,  was  of  an  unusually  frank  and  sunny  disposition,  a  great 
favorite  with  the  young  ladies  of  the  school,  who  contributed 
their  full  share  to  the  joys  of  the  household.  Happy  evenings 
with  reading  and  music  and  cheerful  games  were  the  rule  and 
not  the  exception,  and  the  days  were  filled  with  wholesome 
work  and  study  for  all.  Sundays  were  days  of  rest  and 
worship,  but  by  no  means  the  gloomiest  days  of  the  week. 
In  fact  I  believe  they  were  the  brightest  and  happiest  of  all, 
for  then  my  mother  had  more  leisure  for  her  family. 

Though  church  and  Sunday  school  always  engaged  her 
attention,  yet  there  was  an  hour  left  for  a  quiet  walk  in  good 
weather.  All  of  my  boyhood  was  spent  in  two  Puritan  fami- 
lies, which  to-day,  in  some  circles,  would  be  considered  very 
strict;  yet  I  have  not  the  slightest  recollection  of  a  gloomy 
Sunday,  or  of  any  unhappy  constraint  in  connection  with  the 
day.  My  mother  and  brother  were  members  of  the  Presby- 
terian church,  in  which  I,  too,  was  dedicated  to  God's  service, 
and  I  had  a  few  years  ago  the  great  honor  and  pleasure  of 
placing  a  modest  stained-glass  window  in  this  church  in  loving 
memory  of  them  and  of  my  father.  The  church  was  recently 
burned  in  a  great  fire  that  swept  Aylmer,  as  I  shall  relate  in 
another  chapter. 

One  early  memory  of  church-going  reminds  me  how 
cold  were  those  Canadian  winters,  where  the  mercury,  even 
in  the  towns,  sometimes  sank  to  forty  degrees  below  zero, 
and  more.  Though  our  home  was  not  more  than  five  minutes 
walk  from  the  church,  I  reached  it  one  Sunday  morning  after 
church,  with  a  frozen  nose,  to  which  a  liberal  application  of 
snow  soon  brought  a  tingling  circulation  again.  Another  trivial 
early  memory,  which  naturally  left  its  impress. 


30  MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

In  the  later  months  of  1858  sad  days  came  to  Cherry  Cot- 
tage. Then  came  the  sickness  and  death  of  the  talented  and 
courageous  boy  who  had  become  his  mother's  staff  and  stay, 
as  I  have  already  related.  From  this  shock  and  sorrow  my 
mother  never  recovered,  and  in  six  months  she  followed  him. 
She  made  many  more  entries  in  her  journal,  it  is  true,  almost 
every  one  of  which  breathes  the  trust  and  hope,  the  gentle 
resignation  and  thanksgiving  for  little  mercies  that  always 
characterized  her.  Indeed,  they  grew  more  and  more  deeply 
spiritual  as  little  by  little  her  bodily  strength  failed.  The 
follo,wing  are  the  last  records  that  I  find  in  her  journal: 

"February  12.  Sabbath  evening.  Another  blessed  Sab- 
bath has  gone.  I  have  not  been  verv  well,  but  I  went  to  the 
Sabbath  schocjl,  hut  not  to  church.  I  hope  I  shall  feel  better 
to-morrow  and  have  more  energy. 

"February  15.  Our  good,  kind  doctor  called  to-day.  It 
does  me  good  to  see  him,  he  is  so  kind  and  sympathizing.  I 
think  I  feel  a  little  better  to-day;  the  weather  has  been  glori- 
ous. I  sat  this  eve  and  watched  the  calm  and  glorious  sunset, 
and  thought  of  my  beloved  boy  in  those  mansions  above, 
which  our  blessed  Sa\'iour  has  prepared  for  those  who  love 
Him." 

Here  the  beautiful  record  of  the  beautiful  life  ends.  She 
gradually  grew  worse  j  could  not  even  persuade  herself  that 
she  felt  "  a  little  better  "3  until  on  March  26,  1859,  the  gentle 
spirit  took  its  flight  beyond  the  "  glorious  sunset "  to  the 
dear  husband  and  the  "  beloved  boy,"  and  to  "  those  mansions 
above  which  our  blessed  Saviour  has  prepared  for  those  who 
love  Him." 

I  remember  the  last  kisses  and  blessings  which  she  show- 
ered on  my  little  head,  and  then  the  labored,  stertorous 
breathing,  the  silent  room  that  followed,  with  the  blinds  closed 
and  the  shades  drawn,  the  funeral  procession  to  the  little 
cemetery  half  way  between  Aylmer  and  Ottawa,  where  she 
lies  beside  her  eldest  son  and  the  little  children   who  were 


MY    BOYHOOD  3 1 

taken  from  life  so  early  j  the  return  to  Cherry  Cottage  j 
the  sympathy  of  kind  neighbors  and  friends,  of  aunts  and 
cousins,  a  number  of  whom  lived  in  the  vicinity,  and  the 
heart-breaking  grief  of  a  boy  who  now,  though  but  little  more 
then  seven  years  old,  had  lost  father  and  mother,  two  brothers 
and  a  sister,  and  was  the  only  one  left  of  the  cheery  Cherry 
Cottage  family.  I  can  hardly  realize,  as  I  write  this,  that  I 
am  already  nearly  thirty  years  older  than  the  oldest  one  of 
my  family  circle  when  she  died. 


My  Adopted  Father,   Rev.   Edward   W.   Clark. 

Very  soon  after  my  mother's  death,  my  uncle,  Rev.  Edward 
Warren  Clark,  of  Auburndale,  Mass.,  came  to  Aylmer  to  take 
me  to  his  home.  He  was  the  favorite  younger  brother  whom 
mv  mother  had  asked  to  take  care  of  me  in  case  anvthing 
should  happen  to  her,  a  commission  and  a  charge  which  he 
seems  to  have  undertaken  gladly,  as  he  had  no  children  of 
his  own. 

My  last  days  in  Aylmer  I  remember  with  considerable  dis- 


32  MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

tinctnessj  the  leave-taking  and  the  "  good-by "  to  cousins 
and  kindly  neighbors  and  sympathetic  friends.  But  my  most 
vivid  memory  is  of  leaving  Cherry  Cottage,  and  giving  a 
farewell  kiss,  not  only  to  its  inhabitants,  but  to  different  por- 
tions of  the  house  and  gardens,  which  were  particularly  dear 
to  me.  As  I  could  not  kiss  all  the  stones  in  the  rocky  yard,  I 
remember  bestowing  a  salute  upon  one  little  stone  and  throw- 
ing it  at  the  others,  as  a  farewell  token  j  and  as  the  trees  were 
too  numerous  for  such  osculatory  demonstrations,  one  cherry 
tree  received  the  embrace  for  all  the  rest. 

But  in  a  child's  mind  new  scenes  soon  chase  away  old  im- 
pressions if  not  old  memories,  and  the  journey  to  "  the 
States,"  where  I  had  been  only  once  before,  and  that  as  a 
very  little  shaver,  was  a  perfect  kaleidoscope  of  new  impres- 
sions. From  Aylmer  to  Ottawa,  —  then  just  beginning  to  as- 
sume dignities  which  awaited  it  as  the  capital  of  a  great 
Dominion,  —  from  Ottawa  to  Rouse's  Point  we  went,  and 
from  Rouse's  Point  to  Ogdensburg.  There  we  spent  the  night, 
and  I  was  almost  frightened  out  of  the  little  growth  I  had 
already  achieved  by  finding  myself  alone  as  I  awoke  in  the 
middle  of  the  night,  my  uncle  having  gone  out  to  see  a  fire 
which  was  exciting  the  neighborhood.  Thinking  that  I  was 
being  deserted  by  everyone,  I  was  captured  in  a  distant  corri- 
dor of  the  hotel  by  a  kind-hearted  chambermaid,  who  found 
me  crying  as  though  I  had  lost  my  last  friend,  as  indeed  I 
thought  I  had.  But  the  fire  was  soon  extinguished  and  with 
it  my  fears  and  anxieties  on  the  return  of  my  uncle,  whose 
kindness  and  gentle  consideration  for  the  little  orphan  I  shall 
never  forget. 

Auburndale,  which  we  reached  the  next  day,  was  not  the 
populous  and  beautiful  village  that  it  now  isj  nevertheless  it 
was  a  lovely  quiet  suburb  with  maple-shaded  streets,  and  many 
comfortable  mid-Victorian  homes  of  the  pioneer  commuters 
of  Boston.  My  uncle  was  the  first  pastor  of  the  newly-formed 
Congregational  Church  of  the  village. 


MY    BOYHOOD  33 

I  cannot  imagine  a  more  ideal  spot  for  a  boy  to  grow  up  in. 
One  of  the  old  inhabitants  used  frequently  to  quote  Gold- 
smith's lines,  beginning, 

"  Sweet  Auburn,  loveh'est  village   of  the  plain," 

and  apply  them  to  the  new  Auburn  —  dale.  A  good  school, 
good  neighbors,  with  a  sufficient  quota  of  boys  and  girls  in 
their    families    to    provide    chums    for    the    newcomer;    the 


My  Adopted  Mother 

A  descendant  of  John  Cotton  and  granddaughter  of 
General  Artemas  Ward. 

Charles  River  to  fish  in,  where  the  capture  of  a  pickerel 
afforded  joy  and  glory  enough  to  last  a  weekj  the  big  city  of 
Boston  only  a  half  hour  away,  where  I  was  soon  allowed  to 
go  on  errands  without  any  chaperon,  —  all  these  afforded  a 
variety  of  joys  sufficient  to  satisfy  any  normal  boy. 

My  aunt,  who  received  me  with  a  welcome  as  warm  and 
loving  as  my  uncle  had  given  me,  was  an  unusual  woman  in 
many  respects,  a  descendant  like  myself  of  the  Puritans  of 


34  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Boston,  with  the  blood  of  John  Cotton,  Cotton  Mather,  and 
General  Artemas  Ward  of  the  Revolutionary  army,  flowing 
in  her  veins.  She  was,  perhaps,  too  insistent  in  earlier  years 
that  all  around  her  should  come  up  to  her  own  high  Puritan 
standard,  but  as  the  years  went  on  she  ripened  and  mellowed  in 
a  marvellously  beautiful  way,  until  when  she  died  in  my  own 
home  in  Auburndale,  nearly  fifty  years  later,  the  most  appro- 
priate words  which  the  officiating  minister  could  find  to  base 
his  funeral  remarks  upon  were:  "  Let  the  beauty  of  the  Lord 
our  God  be  upon  us,"  for  in  face  and  character  all  felt  that 
the  beauty  of  the  Lord  her  God  haci  long  rested  upon  her. 

My  uncle's  health  failed  in  early  life.  Indeed  before  going 
to  Auburndale  he  had  been  obliged  to  give  up  the  ministry 
for  two  years  after  his  first  short  pastorate  in  Reading,  Mass., 
but  in  many  ways  he  was  of  more  than  average  ability.  While 
in  Auburndale  he  was  elected  chaplain  of  the  Massachusetts 
Senate,  and  re-elected  the  next  year,  an  unusual  honor  in 
those  days,  since  previously  the  chaplain's  term  had  been  but 
for  a  single  session.  This  honor  carried  with  it  his  election 
as  Overseer  of  Harvard  College,  but  both  the  chaplaincy  and 
the  overseership  he  laid  down  at  his  country's  call,  when,  in 
1863,  he  was  asked  to  become  chaplain  of  the  Massachusetts 
Forty-seventh  Regiment  of  Volunteers.  This  was  a  nine 
months'  regiment,  and  his  service  in  the  army  was  conse- 
quently brief,  but  sufficiently  long  greatly  to  injure  his  health, 
and  he  reached  home  after  the  regiment  was  mustered  out, 
more  dead  than  alive,  and  in  the  grip  of  the  malarial  fever 
then  so  prevalent  in  New  Orleans  where  his  regiment  had 
been  stationed.  He  was  greatly  beloved  by  the  soldiers,  and 
though  in  failing  health,  ministered  to  them  physically  as  well 
as  spiritually  to  the  last. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  events  of  the  Civil  War 
naturally  made  a  deep  impression  upon  my  childish  mind. 
Indeed  I  remember  begging  earnestly  to  be  allowed  to  go 
with  him,  pleading  that  I  could  at  least  black  his  boots  and 


MY    BOYHOOD  35 

perform  such  services,  if  they  would  not  let  me  be  a  drummer 
boy. 

I  remember  hearing  the  sad,  indignant  tolling  of  the  bells 
when  John  Brown  was  hung.  When  Lincoln  was  shot  I 
grieved  as  for  my  own  father,  going  up  into  a  little  loft  all 
by  myself  and  bursting  into  bitter  tears.  It  shows  what  a 
hold  the  great  President  had  on  the  hearts  of  the  people  that 
even  a  fourteen-year-old  boy  (a  rather  tearless  age)  should 
cry. 

When  before  this  the  news  came  of  the  surrender  of  Vicks- 
burg  and  the  Battle  of  Port  Hudson,  and  these  newspaper 
reports  were  supplemented  by  letters  from  "  the  Chaplain," 
it  can  be  imagined  how  real  and  vivid  were  the  scenes  of  those 
awful  years  of  the  Civil  War. 

What  favorites  the  war  songs  were  with  the  boys  and  girls 
of  those  days!  "  Tramp,  tramp,  tramp,  the  boys  are  march- 
ing," "  Tenting  to-night  on  the  old  camp  ground,"  "  We're 
coming.  Father  Abraham,  three  hundred  thousand  strong," 
"  When  Johnny  comes  marching  home,"  "  They've  grafted 
him  into  the  army,"  and  even  that  somewhat  lugubrious  ditty, 
"  Just  before  the  battle,  mother,"  all  hred  our  enthusiasm 
and  patriotic  zeal.  We  even  roared  out  at  the  top  of  our 
little  voices,  "  We'll  hang  Jeff  Davis  to  a  sour  apple  tree."  I 
am  glad  that  this  "  hymn  of  hate  "  was  the  worst  that  we  were 
allowed  to  sing,  and  I  wish  we  had  not  sung  that.  As  in 
these  later  years  I  visit  the  South,  where  many  of  my  dearest 
friends  sided  with  the  "  Lost  Cause,"  I  wonder  at  those  days 
of  bitterness  and  rancor,  and  rejoice  that  they  are  so  buried 
in  the  kindly  oblivion  of  the  past  that  to-day  the  memory  of 
those  old  songs  excites  only  a  smile. 

A  few  months  after  being  mustered  out  my  adopted  father 
had  sufficiently  recovered  his  health  to  enable  him  to  take 
another  pastorate,  this  time  at  Claremont,  N.  H.,  one  of  the 
most  thriving  and  beautiful  towns  of  the  old  Granite  State. 

Claremont  will  always  be  to  me  a  name  of  happy  memories, 


^6  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

not  only  because  of  the  generous  and  comfortable  home  and 
kindly  people,  but  because  of  the  more  spacious  country  at- 
tractions of  lake  and  river  and  field  and  forest.  My  adopted 
father  was  a  genuine  lover  of  nature,  versed  in  bird-lore  and 
tree-lore,  a  good  shot,  and  a  lover  of  tramps  and  out-door 
expeditions.  All  these  qualities  he  found  it  easy  to  transmit 
to  me,  as  we  often  sallied  out  together  with  rod  and  gun. 
There  were  few  ponds  within  a  radius  of  twenty  miles  that  we 
did  not  visit,  with  the  aid  of  "  Billy,"  the  parsonage  horse, 
and  no  imaginable  joy  seemed  to  me  greater  than  these  ex- 
cursions. 

The  love  of  out-door  life  has  remained  with  me  to  the 
present  day,  though  the  gun  has  been  discarded  of  late  years 
for  the  camera  and  the  opera  glass,  for  most  of  us  grow  more 
tender-hearted  as  we  grow  older. 

Another  thing  for  which  I  have  reason  to  be  especially 
grateful  to  my  foster  father  is  the  care  he  took  to  insure 
my  progress  in  reading  and  English  composition.  The  best 
books  were  always  at  my  disposal,  and  the  worst  were  kept  out 
of  my  way.  A  limited  amount  of  novel  reading  was  allowed, 
and  of  Dickens,  who  was  my  favorite  author,  I  was  permitted 
to  indulge  in  only  one  chapter,  or  at  most  two,  in  the  course 
of  a  day. 

In  still  earlier  years,  next  to  "  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson," 
Grimm's  "Household  Tales"  were  my  especial  joy,  and  I 
became  thoroughly  intimate  with  "  Rumpelstiltskin,"  and  the 
little  tailor  (was  itr)  who  killed  seven  flies  and  then  went 
around  with  the  legend  on  his  hat  band,  "  Seven  at  one  blow." 

When,  many  years  later  I  was  attending  a  German  National 
Christian  Endeavor  convention  in  Cassel,  I  took  great  pains, 
in  memory  of  those  early  loves,  to  hunt  up  the  abode  of  the 
Brothers  Grimm,  where  these  wonderful  tales  were  written. 
The  quaint  old  house  is  marked  with  a  tablet,  and  well  de- 
serves to  be.  Remembering  my  own  boyhood,  1  felt  kinship 
with   the   little  girl   who   once   brought   ten   pfennigs  to   the 


MY    BOYHOOD  37 

Brothers  Grimm,  saying,  "  You  said  in  your  last  story  that  if 
anyone  did  not  believe  that  the  tailor  married  the  princess  he 
must  pay  you  a  mark.  Now  I  do  not  believe  that  a  tailor 
ever,  ever  married  a  princess,  but  I  haven't  got  a  mark,  so  I 
have  brought  you  ten  pfennigs,  and  will  bring  you  the  rest 
when  I  get  it."  Surely  no  better  tribute  to  the  realism  of  a 
fairy  story  was  ever  paid  than  this. 

As  I  have  intimated,  my  adopted  father  took  special  pains, 
not  only  with  my  reading,  but  with  my  writing  also,  and  en- 
couraged me  to  launch  out  in  venturesome  ways  on  the  troubled 
sea  of  literature.  Though  he  himself  never  wrote  much  for 
publication  he  had  a  fine  taste  for  good  writing  and  a  re- 
strained literary  style.  One  result  of  this  encouragement  was 
my  ambitious  attempt  at  a  novel  when  I  was  about  twelve, 
in  the  style  of  "  Pickwick  Papers,"  then  my  beau  ideal  of 
literature.  I  do  not  think  it  ever  got  beyond  the  second 
chapter,  where  the  hero  made  his  debut  among  the  Patago- 
nians.  Whether  he  was  slain  and  eaten  alive,  or  got  back  with 
a  whole  skin  to  his  native  land,  I  do  not  remember,  and  very 
likely  the  plot  did  not  develop  to  this  extent. 

A  more  successful  effort  that  I  remember  was  a  long  letter 
of  several  pages  to  my  father,  urging  him  to  allow  me  to  camp 
out  with  some  other  boys  on  the  banks  of  "  Cold  Pond,"  a 
dozen  or  so  miles  away.  So  skilfully  did  I  array  the  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  the  expedition  and  bring  up  the  objections 
which  I  knew  were  sure  to  be  raised,  only  to  knock  them  down 
like  other  men  of  straw,  that  my  letter  proved  successful  in 
securing  the  coveted  excursion,  while  it  so  pleased  my  father 
that  he  preserved  it  among  his  family  memorabilia  to  his  dying 
day,  more  than  forty  years  later. 

I  must  not  forget  Mount  Ascutney,  glorious  old  Ascutney! 
which  though  on  the  Vermont  side  of  the  Connecticut,  shows 
off  to  best  advantage  from  Claremont  on  the  New  Hampshire 
side.  Once  a  year,  and  sometimes  twice  we  climbed  to  its  top 
and  spent  the  night  in  the  little  stone  hut  that  crowned  its 


38  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN    MANY    LANDS 

topmost  peak.  What  excursions  those  were!  Though  only  a 
dozen  miles  from  Claremont,  to  climb  Ascutney  seemed  a 
rarer  privilege  than  it  would  be  to  cross  the  ocean  and  stand 
on  the  peak  of  Fujiyama  to-day.  Never  was  there  such  a 
delicious  ice-cold  spring  as  that  which  you  will  find  half  way 
up  the  mountain  on  the  left-hand  side  of  the  pathj  never  was 
there  such  a  magnificent  view  over  the  New  Hampshire  hills 
and  the  Vermont  valleys,  which  lay  stretched  at  our  feet.  If 
you  do  not  believe  it,  dear  reader,  climb  Ascutney  for  yourself, 
but  you  must  do  it  with  a  boy's  eager  heart,  and  fresh  im- 
pressionable imagination. 

The  spiritual  surroundings  of  the  Claremont  parsonage 
were  as  helpful  as  the  intellectual  and  material.  Family 
prayers  night  and  morning,  portions  of  the  Bible  to  be  studied 
and  learned,  were  part  of  my  daily  life,  and  I  do  not  remem- 
ber that  these  seemed  monotonous  or  unwelcome  tasks. 
Ruskin  has  told  us  that  the  119th  Psalm,  the  longest  in  the 
whole  book,  was  the  severest  task  in  memorizing  that  his 
mother  ever  demanded  of  him,  but  that  he  received  more 
help  from  that  Psalm  than  from  any  other  chapter  of  the 
Bible,  though  he  committed  to  memory  many  other  difficult 
passages.  I  ,was  not  required  to  learn  that  Psalm,  or  any 
chapters  in  Second  Chronicles,  as  was  Ruskin,  but  I  only  wish 
now  that  I  had  made  better  use  of  my  opportunities  and 
learned  many  more. 

Every  Sunday  evening  at  the  hour  of  family  prayer  I 
was  expected  to  report  both  morning  anci  afternoon  sermons. 
I  was  naturally  ambitious  to  give  the  longest  and  most  ac- 
curate report  possible,  taking  notes  in  church  for  that  purpose. 
It  was  a  splendid  exercise  for  the  memory  and  for  powers  of 
expression,  anci  for  the  intellect  and  heart  as  well.  I  commend 
it  to  modern  parents. 

As  a  result  of  these  wholesome  religious  influences,  and 
moved,  as  I  trust,  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  when  thirteen  years  of 
age,  I  stood  up,  trembling  and  abashed,  in  the  little  prayer- 


MY    BOYHOOD  39 

meeting  room  of  the  Claremont  church,  and  confessed  my  de- 
sire to  be  counted  among  the  followers  of  Christ.  No  evangel- 
ist or  season  of  religious  excitement  had  brought  me  to  a  de- 
cision, but  religious  training  and  conviction. 

While  1  believe  heartily  in  revivals,  and  in  many  revivalists, 
and  in  special  periods  of  religious  awakening,  I  also  believe  that 
there  is  a  place  for  the  Timothy  type  of  conversion  as  well 
as  for  the  Pauline,  and  that  Mother  Eunice  and  Grandmother 
Lois  may  be  as  much  used  of  God  in  bringing  their  children  to 
Christ,  as  the  most  fiery  and  eloquent  evangelist.  The  dingy 
little  chapel  of  the  Claremont  church,  now  greatly  altered  and 
beautified,  will  always  be  a  place  of  sacred  memories  to  me. 

My  school  days  at  Claremont  were  mostly  passed  in  a  so- 
called  academy,  for  it  was  before  the  days  of  high  schools. 
This  academy  was  of  moderate  pretensions,  but  some  of  the 
teachers  were  of  marked  personality,  especially  the  principal, 
a  Miss  Chamberlin.  After  all,  the  personality  of  a  teacher 
is  worth  far  more  than  buildings  of  brick  and  mortar,  school, 
books  and  blackboards,  and  all  the  paraphernalia  of  modern 
education.  Miss  Chamberlin's  academy  was  a  smaller  copy 
of  the  oft-quoted  college  with  "  Mark  Hopkins  at  one  end  of 
the  log  and  pupils  on  the  other." 

When  little  more  than  sixteen  years  of  age  my  real 
academy  days  were  begun,  and  one  cold  December  day  I  drove 
with  iny  adopted  father  to  the  hill  town  of  Meriden,  N.  H.,  to 
be  entered  at  a  "  middler "  in  famous  old  Kimball  Union 
Academy,  which  was  then  one  of  the  three  largest  and  most 
important  fitting  schools  in  New  England,  with  between  three 
and  four  hundred  students  enrolled  upon  its  catalogue. 
Meriden  would  not  perhaps  be  considered  the  most  attractive 
place  in  the  world  by  a  city  boy,  for  it  was  and  is  remote  from 
the  railroad,  with  a  lumbering  stage-coach  (now  an  auto- 
mobile) connecting  it  with  the  outer  world,  and  with  only  one 
new  dwelling  house  built  since  the  early  days  of  the  Civil  War 
up  to  this  time. 


40  MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN    IN     MANY    LANDS 

Nevertheless  it  had  and  has  attractions  all  its  own:  — 
splendid  scenery  among  the  New  Hampshire  hills,  green  in 
summer  and  snow-clad  in  winter^  Grantham  Mountain  and  the 
Croydon  Hills,  Mount  Ascutney,  and  the  White  Hills  not 
far  awayj  magnificent  coasting  in  winter  (for  it  is  a  village  set 
upon  a  hill,  a  high  and  steep  one  at  that),  and  glorious  air 
and  sunshine  all  the  year  round. 

Here  too,  the  teachers,  if  not  all  peculiarly  eminent  for 
their  scholarships,  were  men  and  women  who  knew  how  to  im- 
press themselves  upon  their  students  and  bring  out  the  best 
that  was  in  them.  Dr.  Cyrus  Richards,  the  long-time  prin- 
cipal of  the  school,  was  a  Greelc  and  Latin  scholar  of  note 
throughout  the  country,  who,  if  stiff  and  prim,  and  a  martinet 
in  some  of  his  rules  and  regulations,  was  still  one  who  com- 
manded the  respect  of  his  students,  and  the  impress  that  he 
left  on  their  minds  was  always  one  of  manliness  and  righteous- 
ness. 

Rule  twenty,  which  kept  the  boys  and  girls  from  speaking 
to  each  other,  walking  together,  or  if  possible,  from  even 
casting  sheep's  eyes  across  the  road,  except  on  one  or  two  red- 
letter  days  in  the  course  of  the  year,  would  seem  absurd  enough 
in  these  days,  but  it  at  least  fostered  a  respect  if  not  reverence 
for  the  opposite  sex,  and  never  bred  the  contempt  which  the 
familiarity  of  the  present  day  often  engenders. 

If  Kimball  Union  Academy  were  not  a  place  for  high  think- 
ing on  the  part  of  all  the  students,  it  was  certainly  a  place  for 
plain  living;  for  corn  mush  and  milk,  baked  beans  and  oat- 
meal, meat  two  or  three  times  a  week,  and  "  flap-jacks  "  that 
on  certain  memorable  days  appeared  on  the  table,  were  the 
staples  of  our  bill  of  fare. 

At  a  recent  Alumni  reunion  of  the  school,  the  old  boys  and 
girls,  in  "  reminiscing,"  told  how  the  board  bills  in  the  late 
sixties,  when  we  were  specially  extravagant,  mounted  up  to 
$1.37  a  week,  while  one  white-haired  old  gentleman  who  had 
been  a  student  in  the  early  sixties,  declared  that  at  his  club  (for 


MY    BOYHOOD  41 

all  Students  boarded  in  clubs  with  a  commissary  of  their  own 
choosing),  the  board  bill  amounted  to  eighty  cents  a  week  for  a 
whole  term.  He  remarked,  parenthetically,  however,  that 
the  landlady's  pig  was  very  lean  that  year,  there  being  no 
scraps  left  over  for  it. 

Let  no  one  think  however,  that  ,we  considered  ourselves 
abused  or  half  starved.  We  were  healthy,  hearty,  and  rugged, 
without  a  suspicion  that  we  were  not  faring  sumptuously  every 
day,  and  we  never  imagined  that  we  could  be  objects  of  pity 
on  the  part  of  ourselves  or  anybody  else. 

At  the  end  of  less  than  two  years,  I  was  graduated  with 
some  small  honors  and,  with  twenty-five  of  my  classmates, 
took  the  easy  examinations  which  Dartmouth  then  imposed 
upon  its  Pcenes;  the  "  Meriden  delegation  "  furnishing  more 
than  a  quarter  part  of  the  Dartmouth  class  of  '73. 

The  old  school  on  Meriden  Hill  is  comparatively  flourish- 
ing once  more  after  a  long  period  of  depression,  when  it  became 
almost  extinct,  and  I  am  glad  to  give  some  little  time  each  year 
to  its  interests,  as  chairman  of  the  board  of  trustees,  though 
others  on  the  board  give  far  more  both  of  time  and  money, 
especially  my  classmate  and  intimate  friend,  Alfred  Hall, 
Esq.,  of  Boston. 

Meriden,  in  another  way,  is  now  being  put  upon  the  map, 
having  become,  through  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Harold  Baynes, 
the  most  famous  bird  town  in  America,  with  its  "  Bird  Sanc- 
tuary "  and  "  Bird  Plays,"  in  which  the  daughters  of  President 
Wilson,  when  their  summer  home  was  in  Cornish,  half  a  dozen 
miles  away,  thought  it  worth  while  to  take  part. 

When  a  boy  enters  college,  in  his  own  estimation  at  least 
he  leaves  boyhood  days  behind,  so  I  will  close  this  boyhood 
chapter  with  my  memory  of  that  twelve-mile  ride  from  Kim- 
ball Union  to  Dartmouth  for  matriculation  in  the  class  of  '73, 
whose  fiftieth  anniversary  is  close  at  hand. 


Chapter  V 
Years   i 869-1 873 

DARTMOUTH    DAYS 


DARTMOUTH      CENTENNIAL      COMMENCEMENT CHIEF      JUS- 
TICE   CHASE    AND    GENERAL    TECUMSEH    SHERMAN  OUR 

PRESIDENT   AND    PROFESSORS PRIMITIVE   DAYS   AT    DART- 
MOUTH    FRATERNITY       LIFE LITERARY       EFFORTS 

FOOTBALL       IN       THE       OLD       DAYS TEACHING       SCHOOL 

WINTERS. 

WAS  fortunate  in  entering  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege at  the  beginning  o£  the  second  century 
of  that  noble  old  New  Hampshire  institution, 
and  the  commencement  of  1869,  which  I  at- 
tended as  a  newly  fledged  Pcene,  was  the 
most  impressive  perhaps  which  Dartmouth 
had  ever  known.  That  was  in  the  days  of  the  old-fashioned 
college  commencements,  which  resembled  a  country  fair  quite 
as  much  as  the  graduation  days  of  an  institution  of  learning. 

The  sideshow  man  was  in  full  evidence  j  the  man  with  the 
educated  moose  was  there  j  the  pop-corn  man  and  the  vender 
of  pink  lemonade  were  prominent  on  the  campus  j  and  if  the 
Wild  Man  of  Borneo,  the  Fat  Woman  and  the  Human 
Skeleton  had  been  in  that  vicinity  they  .would  certainly  have 
put  in  an  appearance.  Country  people  flocked  from  all  the 
region  round  about,  and  many  found  greater  entertainment 
in  the  booths  on  the  campus  than  in  the  two  dozen  stilted  com- 
mencement orations  of  the  young  graduates  in  the  college 
church,  and  1  for  one  do  not  blame  them. 

42 


DARTMOUTH    DAYS  43 

But  there  were  other  and  more  exalted  entertainments  on 
this  occasion  than  either  the  campus  or  the  college  church 
afforded,  for  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States,  Salmon 
P.  Chase,  Dartmouth's  most  distinguished  alumnus  then  liv- 
ing, presided  at  the  alumni  gathering  in  a  great  tent  pitched 
on  the  campus,  which  was  also  graced  by  the  presence  of  Gen- 
eral William  Tecumseh  Sherman,  then  comparatively  fresh 
from  the  glories  of  the  battlefield,  and  acclaimed  as  the  second 
greatest  general  of  the  Union  army. 

Of  course  Daniel  Webster  and  Rufus  Choate  were  eulo- 
gized, as  they  have  been  at  scores  of  commencements  since  their 
graduation.  On  this  occasion  the  glorious  things  which  were 
spoken  of  Dartmouth  and  her  distinguished  graduates  were 
cut  short  by  a  tremendous  shower  of  rain,  which  caused  the 
Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States,  the  Lieutenant-General 
of  her  army,  and  as  many  others  as  could  possibly  do  so,  to 
take  refuge  under  the  speakers'  platform  from  the  deluge 
that  poured  through  the  dry  canvas, 

Alas,  their  last  estate  was  worse  than  the  first,  for  there 
were  wide  cracks  in  the  platform,  through  which  the  rain 
poured  upon  their  devoted  heads,  not  in  drops  but  in  rivulets. 
If  I  remember  rightly  the  shower  soon  abated  and  the  exer- 
cises proceeded  to  the  end  without  curtailment,  in  spite  of  the 
damp  and  dripping  condition  of  some  of  the  principal  speakers. 
Owing  to  the  somewhat  meagre  preparations  for  the  appetites 
of  a  crowd  which  was  larger  than  was  expected,  and  with  ref- 
erence to  the  principal  articles  on  the  menu  of  the  alumni 
dinner,  the  punsters  declared  that  it  was  "  merely  a  salmon, 
pea,  chase." 

My  real  college  life  of  course  did  not  begin  until  the  next 
September.  Though  some  might  dispute  my  views  on  this 
point,  I  also  think  that  I  have  reason  to  congratulate  myself 
that  I  was  a  college  student  of  the  olden  times,  when  Dart- 
mouth was  a  comparatively  small  college.  She  was  a  college 
with  slender  endowment,  a  very  moderate  equipment  and  with 


44  MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN    IN     MANY    LANDS 

few  Students  according  to  the  views  of  the  present  day,  (when 
hundreds  every  year  are  trying  in  vain  to  enter  her  over- 
crowded academic  shades),  but  men  of  great  hearts,  command- 
ing personality,  lofty  ideals  and  spotless  characters  graced  the 
presidential  and  professorial  chairs. 

Not  that  such  men  are  not  found  to-day  in  Dartmouth  and 
all  our  colleges,  but  the  personality  of  the  professors  has  been 
in  a  measure,  I  believe,  overshadowed  by  the  excellence  of  the 
equipment,  while  the  introduction  of  some  younger  professors 
on  the  score  of  specialized  and  technical  scholarship  rather  than 
of  character,  has  made  the  moral  and  religious  tone  of  many 
of  our  colleges  far  less  dominant  than  in  days  of  old. 

I  cannot  explain  exactly  what  I  mean  unless  I  could  intro- 
duce to  all  my  readers  the  president  and  professors  of  that 
ancient  time.  President  Asa  Dodge  Smith  was  tall,  impressive, 
courteous  to  the  last  degree,  with  a  large  expanse  of  shirt 
bosom,  a  long  coat,  and  a  well  brushed  silk  hat  always  in 
evidence.  Of  course  his  suavity  and  his  efforts  to  conciliate 
and  please  wherever  possible,  together  with  a  middle  name 
convenient  to  their  hand,  led  the  boys  who  had  been  disciplined, 
or  who  for  some  other  reason  did  not  like  the  president,  to 
call  him  "  The  Artful  Dodger  "  (Oliver  Twist  was  then  a 
special  Dickens'  favorite),  but  the  great  majority  respected 
him,  and  those  who  knew  him  intimately  loved  him.  Coming 
from  an  important  New  York  pulpit,  he  brought  with  him  a 
courteous  dignity  and  grace  which  Dartmouth  needed,  but 
withal  one  of  the  warmest  hearts  that  ever  beat  in  a  college 
president's  bosom. 

I  remember  that  several  years  before  I  went  to  college 
he  was  marooned  by  a  New  Hampshire  blizzard  in  our  Clare- 
mont  home,  and  that  even  then  he  inspired  me  by  his  gentle 
courtesy  and  personal  interest  with  an  unfaltering  attention 
to  matriculate  some  day  as  a  Dartmouth  freshman,  an  inten- 
tion which  he  fostered  by  various  letters  and  remembrances. 
It  was  currently  reported  that  no  man-child  was  born  in  a  New 


DARTMOUTH    DAYS  45 

Hampshire  home  that  Dr.  Smith  did  not  get  his  eye  on  as  a 
prospective  Dartmouth  student. 

His  kindness  was  continued  throughout  all  my  college 
course,  and  on  one  occasion  at  least,  he  talked  with  me  very 
seriously  about  entering  the  ministry,  and,  before  the  inter- 
view was  ended,  dropped  upon  his  knees  and  prayed  that  I 
might  be  led  to  give  my  life  to  such  service.  I  am  glad  that 
his  prayer  was  answered,  and  that  he  preached  the  sermon 
when  I  was  ordained  and  installed  as  pastor  of  Williston 
Church,  in  Portland,  Maine.  This  was  one  of  the  very  last 
acts  of  his  life,  for  he  was  soon  after  taken  ill,  and  within  a 
few  months  went  to  his  great  reward. 

To  think  of  a  president  of  our  great  colleges  of  to-day 
praying  with  an  individual  student  that  he  might  be  led  into 
the  ministry!  Well  I  am  afraid,  that  to  some  it  might  savor 
of  the  impossible,  I  hope  not  of  the  ludicrous.  I  am  con- 
vinced, however,  that  there  would  be  more  graduates  from 
our  universities  in  the  ministry  to-day  if  there  were  more 
Asa  D.  Smiths  in  the  presidential  chairs,  though  I  admit  that 
Dartmouth  has  had  greater  presidents  in  these  later  years. 

And  then  the  professors!  Their  personality  was  scarcely 
less  impressive  than  that  of  the  president.  Professor  Edwin 
D,  Sanborn,  "  Professor  Bully  "  as  every  one  affectionately 
called  him,  our  teacher  of  English  literature,  what  a  noble 
character  was  his!  Strong,  rugged,  tender,  with  a  genuine 
appreciation  and  love  for  the  best  things  of  literature,  he  led 
his  students  to  love  them  too. 

Professor  Parker,  at  the  head  of  the  Latin  Department, 
polished,  winning,  and  courteous,  became  our  highest  ideal 
of  what  a  Christian  gentleman  should  be,  while  Professor 
Noyes,  nervous  and  intense,  but  enthusiastic  for  his  depart- 
ment of  moral  philosophy  and  political  economy,  did  not 
deserve  the  belittling  name  of  "  Peanuts  "  which  was  said  to 
be  derived  from  a  story  he  once  told  of  his  "  wild  days  "  in 
college,  when  he  went  through  "  Bed-bug  Alley  "  in  Dart- 


4-6  MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

mouth  Hall  eating  peanuts  and  saying  "  d ."     Professor 

Charles  Young  was  the  most  distinguished  of  our  teachers  in 
a  scholarly  way,  and  had  already  made  Dartmouth's  little 
observatory  famous  by  his  discoveries  of  the  sun  spots,  and  the 
spectrum  analysis  of  the  sun's  rays.  1  remember,  many  years 
after  graduation,  when  he  had  returned  to  Hanover  to  spend 
his  declining  days  after  a  distinguished  service  at  Princeton 
University,  he  tapped  me  on  the  shoulder,  as  he  sat  behind 
me  on  the  platform,  on  "  Dartmouth  Night,"  and,  assuming 
his  old  professorial  voice,  asked  me  sharply,  "  Clark,  what  is 
the  distance  from  the  earth  to  Mars?  "  I  had  not  known 
that  he  was  there,  and  his  amazing  question  was  enigmatical 
until  I  looked  around  and  saw  his  smiling  face  and  twinkling 
eye. 

Dr.  John  Lord,  though  not  a  regular  professor,  was  a  regu- 
lar lecturer  on  history  during  my  college  days.  His  "  Beacon 
Lights  of  History  "  are  still  standard  books  of  which  new 
editions  are  constantly  appearing.  His  lectures  were  as  inter- 
esting as  his  manner  was  eccentric,  and  he  sometimes  scan- 
dalized the  other  professors  by  lighting  up  his  cigar  after  the 
lecture,  almost  before  he  had  left  the  chapel  door.  He  was 
the  only  one  of  our  professors  that  indulged  in  the  weed,  so 
far  as  I  know,  and  that  indulgence  was  laid  to  his  general 
eccentricity,  and  was  condoned  on  that  score. 

I  remember  hearing  from  an  uncle  of  mine  who  was  also 
his  college  classmate,  an  amusing  story  concerning  himj  — 
how  in  a  class  prayer  meeting  he  was  called  on  to  offer  prayer, 
all  the  students  being  upon  their  knees.  Being  somewhat  ner- 
vous and  excitable  he  hitched  his  chair  from  place  to  place, 
until,  when  he  was  through,  he  was  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
room  from  where  he  began.  In  the  meantime  he  had  uncon- 
sciously tied  his  handkerchief  round  his  knees,  so  that  when  all 
the  others  arose  from  their  reverential  posture,  he  was  quite 
unable  to  do  so  until  he  was  unbound. 

Professor  Proctor,  of  the  Greek  chair.  Professor  Hitchcock 


DARTMOUTH    DAYS  47 

the  eminent  geologist,  Professor  Quimby,  who  took  us 
through  the  intricacies  of  conic  sections  and  the  differential 
calculus,  and  the  younger  men.  Tutors  Lord,  Emerson,  and 
Chase  all  deserve  mention,  for  each  one  had  a  "  personality  " 
that  impressed  itself  upon  the  students. 

Our  class  of  '73,  owing  doubtless  to  the  glories  of  the 
centennial  year,  was  the  largest  that  had  ever  entered  Dart- 
mouth College,  and  numbered,  all  told,  with  those  who  en- 
tered later  in  the  course,  and  counting  the  men  in  the  Chandler 
Scientific  Department,  though  for  some  unexplained  reason 
they  were  not  counted  with  the  classicals  in  those  days,  fully 
130  men,  a  very  respectable  number  though  scarcely  a  quarter 
part  the  size  of  the  present  Dartmouth  classes. 

There  were  rough  and  tough  men  in  the  college  classes  of 
those  days,  men  who  drank  and  cursed  and  whose  virtue  was 
not  immaculate.  Many  of  these  were  weeded  out  in  the 
early  years  of  the  college  course,  though  some  managed  to 
graduate  among  the  ninety  or  thereabouts  who  received  their 
sheepskins  on  a  hot  June  day  in  1873.  In  spite  of  these  men 
I  am  confident  that  the  tone  of  the  college  as  a  whole  was  in 
those  days  earnest,  sincere,  and  genuinely  religious.  Those 
were  the  days  of  compulsory  chapel  and  compulsory  church, 
which  we  took  for  granted  as  we  did  the  precession  of  the 
equinoxes.  It  never  occurred  to  us  that  in  a  well-regulated  col- 
lege anything  less  could  be  demanded,  while  the  class  prayer 
meetings,  though  of  course  entirely  voluntary,  were  usually 
attended  by  fully  half  of  our  class,  most  of  whom  took  part 
briefly,  according  to  the  present  Christian  Endeavor  custom. 
I  am  not  sure  that  these  class  prayer  meetings  did  not  give  me 
my  first  idea  of  what  a  church  young  people's  society  might 
be.  At  any  rate,  I  know  that  they  were  the  most  stimulating 
religious  feature  of  my  college  life,  where,  with  other 
Christian  classmates,  I  in  some  way  declared  myself,  week 
after  week,  as  on  the  side  of  Christ. 

In  the  midst  of  our  college  course  a  genuine  revival  of 


48  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS. 

religion  occurred,  as  was  usually  the  case  in  those  days  at 
least  once  in  four  years.  Some  of  the  strongest  men  intel- 
lectually and  socially  in  my  class  as  well  as  in  the  other  classes 
were  thoroughly  converted.  It  can  well  be  imagined  how 
this  revival  rejoiced  the  heart  of  President  Smith,  a  religious 
awakening  in  which  he  and  his  daughter  Sarah,  and  several 
members  of  the  faculty,  took  a  prominent  part  in  personal 
work  for  the  students. 

No  Dartmouth  student  of  my  generation  and  of  many 
that  preceded  and  followed,  for  a  generation  of  students  is 
only  four  years  in  length,  will  forget  Dr.  Leeds,  the  pastor  of 
the  College  Church;  scholarly,  solemn,  and  uncompromising 
in  the  pulpit,  but  the  very  soul  of  geniality  in  his  own  home. 
This  parsonage  home  and  the  homes  of  many  of  the  professors 
were  genuine  havens  of  refuge  in  the  limited  social  life  of 
Hanover,  for  all  the  students  who  would  avail  themselves  of 
their  privileges,  and  largely  made  up  for  the  lack  of  other 
social  attractions  which  city  colleges  are  supposed  to  enjoy. 

Freshmen  fraternities,  which  have  since  been  abolished,  were 
then  in  vogue,  and  it  was  not  till  the  beginning  of  my  sopho- 
more year,  according  to  the  custom  of  that  day,  that  I  was 
initiated  into  the  Zeta  Chapter  of  the  Psi  Upsilon  Fraternity, 
following  in  this  respect  in  my  adopted  father's  footsteps,  for 
he  was  a  charter  member  of  the  Zeta  Chapter,  and  followed 
by  two  of  my  sons  in  the  classes  of  1901  and  191 2  respectively. 
I  was  tempted  to  become  an  Alpha  Delt,  through  a  generous 
invitation  urgently  presented  by  a  senior  who  afterwards  be- 
came the  president  of  the  largest  theological  seminary  in 
America,  but  family  considerations  prevailed,  and  of  course 
neither  in  college  days  nor  since,  have  I  been  willing  to  admit 
that  any  fraternity  could  be  seriously  compared  with  old  Psi 

Upsilon. 

But  those  were  modest  days  for  college  fraternities,  as  for 
other  college  housings.  We  had  no  elaborate  building  with 
lounges  and  fireplaces  and  luxurious  paraphernalia,  but  hired 


DARTMOUTH    DAYS  49 

a  modest  room  in  the  old  "  Tontine,"  Hanover's  one  business 
block. 

Yet  the  fraternity  spirit  in  those  days  ,was  most  admirable. 
It  was  a  rare  and  genuine  fellowship  that  was  promoted,  and 
a  clean,  sensible  and  serious  view  of  life  as  well.  A  profane 
oath,  or  a  glass  of  "  booze  "  it  was  felt  would  have  desecrated 
the  sacred  precincts  of  the  fraternity  hallj  the  meetings  were 
opened  with  prayer,  and  a  banquet  provided  by  a  local  caterer 
once  a  year  was  the  extent  of  our  convivialities. 

Much  time  and  thought  were  put  into  our  literary  exercises, 
which  were  held  every  week,  and  the  debates  and  papers  fur- 
nished almost  the  only  opportunity  for  practice  in  speaking  and 
literary  effort.  Among  other  happy  memories  I  recall  a  visit 
to  the  Amherst  chapter  as  a  Zeta  delegate  to  the  annual  conven- 
tion of  1872,  and,  as  -  -  -  of  the  fraternity,  (how  near  I 
came  to  revealing  an  unrevealable  secret!)  I  had  much 
to  do  with  the  entertainment  of  the  convention  at  Dartmouth 
the  next  year.  This  convention,  like  the  previous  one,  passed 
off  gloriously,  though  I  remember  that  some  of  the  brothers 
from  the  city  colleges  were  inclined  to  turn  up  their  noses 
at  our  country  ways  and  country  roads,  when  we  took  them 
for  a  ride  to  the  Shaker  settlement  at  Enfield. 

I  suppose  that  most  college  students  to-day,  whether  from 
the  country  or  city,  would  regard  the  surroundings  of  Dart- 
mouth in  the  early  seventies  as  exceedingly  crude  and  primi- 
tive. We  carried  up  our  own  water  from  the  old-fashioned 
pump  on  the  campus,  and  our  own  coal  and  wood  from  our 
private  stock  in  the  cellar.  We  chose  our  commissary  and 
boarded  in  a  so-called  "  club,"  making  our  bills  of  fare  to 
suit  our  purses,  few  of  which  ever  knew  any  superfluous  cash. 
Dartmouth  was  then  a  poor  man's  college  and  drew  its  con- 
stituency largely  from  the  New  Hampshire  farms,  with  a  con- 
siderable contingent  from  Massachusetts,  and  a  sprinkling 
from  the  West.  Dartmouth  men  have  always  been  famous 
for  sending  their  sons  back  to  the  old  college. 


50  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

I  may  be  allowed  an  old  graduate's  privilege,  I  am  sure,  to 
cherish  the  fond  belief  that  just  as  strong,  vigorous,  and  suc- 
cessful men  were  turned  out  in  the  days  of  the  college  pump 
and  the  kerosene  lamp  as  in  the  modern  times  of  shower  bath 
and  electricity. 

I  am  tempted  at  this  point  to  tell  far  more  than  my  space 
will  allow  concerning  my  college  mates  and  classmates,  and  as 
I  think  of  Jack  and  Fred  and  Sam  and  Rich  and  Tom  and  Jim 
and  Alf  and  George  and  Judge  and  remember  the  distin- 
guished lawyers  and  ministers  and  professors  and  college 
presidents  who  would  have  to  answer  if  I  called  the  roll  to- 
day. I  find  that  it  would  be  quite  impossible,  within  the  limits 
of  this  volume  to  tell  .what  I  would  like  concerning  them. 
But  these  distinguished  men  were  all  there  in  embryo  in  that 
little  New  Hampshire  village,  and  I  could  name  scores  of  them 
who  have  made  their  mark  upon  their  day  and  generation. 

I  was  attacked  by  a  genuine  case  of  cacoathes  scribendiy 
during  my  preparatory  course  at  Meriden  and  it  became  more 
virulent  during  the  college  days  at  Hanover.  How  well  I  re- 
member my  first  published  article.  It  appeared  in  the  Man- 
chester Mirror,  a  weekly  paper,  during  my  early  academy 
days,  and  related  to  the  mysteries  of  the  planchette,  which 
was  then  exciting  superstitious  people  and  amusing  saner  ones. 
How  I  hugged  that  paper  to  my  bosom!  a  volume  of  five 
hundred  pages  would  seeni  far  less  important  now.  But  my 
pride  took  a  tumble,  as  pride  usually  does,  when  I  wrote  to 
the  editor  and  asked  for  payment  for  the  article,  and  re- 
ceived his  reply  saying,  that  he  could  buy  any  number  of  such 
articles  for  fifty  cents  apiece,  and  thought  that  the  copy  of 
the  paper  he  had  sent  me  was  a  quite  sufficient  reward. 

However,  I  was  not  entirely  discouraged  from  hoping  that 
I  could  sometime  earn  my  living  with  my  pen,  and,  during 
my  college  course,  made  various  other  essays  in  the  same 
direction.  A  number  of  articles  published  in  the  Old  Curiosity 
Sho-py  a  Boston  magazine  of  somewhat  ephemeral  life,  brought 


DARTMOUTH    DAYS  5 1 

me  in  over  one  hundred  dollars  in  the  course  of  one  year.  I 
hope  that  my  contributions  did  not  hasten  the  death  of  the 
magazine,  which  expired  the  following  season.  These  literary 
efforts,  I  suppose,  were  the  cause  of  my  election  as  one  of  the 
editors  of  The  Dartmouth  Magazine  during  my  senior  year, 
and  also  of  a  short-lived  college  weekly  called  The  Anvil j 
which  was  started  by  a  brilliant  classmate,  Fred  Thayer  by 
name,  who  afterwards  served  his  apprenticeship  on  the  Inde- 
pendent and  the  New  York  TimeSy  and  whose  untimely  death 
was  mourned  by  all  soon  after  he  entered  the  ministry. 

My  first  book,  entitled  "  Our  Vacations,"  though  it  related 
largely  to  the  excursions  and  out-door  life  of  college  days, 
was  not  published  until  my  junior  year  in  Andover  Seminary. 
What  wonderful  excursions  those  were!  Two  weeks  in  the 
White  Mountains  with  half  a  dozen  classmates  at  the  close 
of  sophomore  year  was  a  fortnight  ever  to  be  remembered. 
We  walked  from  Hanover  through  the  notches  of  the  White 
Hills  and  the  Franconias  while  an  old  horse  and  an  impromptu 
prairie  schooner  which  was  just  as  good  for  the  mountains  as 
for  the  prairies,  carried  our  tent,  our  blankets,  and  our  cook- 
ing-kit. The  yearly  excursion  of  the  newly  fledged  juniors 
was  a  regular  feature  of  those  college  days,  and  was  perhaps 
the  progenitor  of  the  famous  "  Outing  Club "  which  has 
helped  to  make  Dartmouth  the  great  out-door  college  of  the 
country. 

Stories  of  other  vacation  weeks  spent  with  classmates  at 
Nahant  and  Cohasset  on  the  Massachusetts  shore,  and  excur- 
sions to  the  Maritime  Provinces  and  Quebec,  during  which  I 
was  able  to  pay  my  expenses  by  correspondence  for  certain 
Boston  papers,  made  up  the  substance  of  this  little  book,  which, 
even  in  these  days,  I  sometimes  see  kicking  around,  forlorn 
and  neglected,  on  the  ten-cent  counters  of  second-hand  book 
shops. 

I  must  not  forget  to  record  the  unique  experience  of  the 
Dartmouth  men  of  the  olden  days  as  student  pedagogues. 


52  MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

Massachusetts  in  general,  and  Cape  Cod  in  particular,  were 
quite  overrun  with  college  boys  who  were  practising  on  the 
unsuspecting  youths  and  maidens  of  the  Old  Bay  State.  Six 
weeks'  vacation  in  mid-winter  was  the  rule  for  Dartmouth  in 
the  early  seventies,  while  students  who  wished  to  teach  were  al- 
lowed six  weeks  more  at  the  beginning  of  the  spring  term, 
whose  studies  they  were  not  obliged  to  make  up.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  almost  every  boy  either  taught  or  told  the  faculty  that 
he  "  .wanted  to  teach,"  so  that  Hanover  was  a  particularly 
lonesome  place  during  the  three  months  from  January  to 
April. 

During  my  freshman  year  I  taught  in  Topsfield,  Mass.,  and 
in  the  sophomore  winter  in  the  adjoining  town  of  Boxford, 
and  during  both  of  these  winters  had  the  privilege  of  living 
much  of  the  time  alternately  in  the  charming  homes  of  two  of 
my  uncles  who  had  married  sisters  of  my  mother,  and  were 
spending  their  declining  years  in  Boxford,  a  town  which  enjoys 
the  unique  distinction,  according  to  a  late  census,  of  having 
exactly  the  same  number  of  inhabitants  as  in  the  days  of  the 
Revolutionary  War. 

The  same  winter  that  I  taught  in  the  first  district  of  Box- 
ford where  the  classes  ranged  all  the  way  from  the  a,b,  abs, 
to  the  beginners  in  Algebra,  "  Sam  McCall,"  recently  a  dis- 
tinguished congressman  and  Governor  of  Massachusetts, 
taught  in  another  district,  and  an  eminent  professor  of  New 
Testament  Greek,  Fred  Bradley,  ( I  give  them  their  old-time 
names),  in  still  another.  Who  imagined  in  those  days  that 
"  Sam  "  and  "  Fred  "  would  occupy  these  chairs? 

At  the  end  of  my  sophomore  year  the  teaching  privilege  was 
taken  away  from  Dartmouth  students,  or  at  least  the  winter 
vacation  was  cut  short,  and  all  were  obliged  to  make  up  for 
lost  time,  so  that  few  were  able  to  replenish  their  lean  pocket- 
books  by  the  meagre  twelve-dollars-a-week  salary  for  school 
teaching,  and  few  Dartmouth  boys  thereafter  made  love  to 
the  Cape  Cod  maidens,  or  pitched  the  unruly  big  boys  of  their 


DARTMOUTH    DAYS  53 

schools  into  the  snow  drifts,  an   athletic   feat  for  which   the 
huskiest  were  frequently  chosen  in  the  earlier  days. 

While  it  would  seem  absurd  to-day  to  take  so  much  time 
out  of  a  college  course,  I  am  not  at  all  sure  that  those  twelve 
weeks  of  teaching  were  not  quite  as  valuable  as  any  twelve 
weeks  of  being  taught,  and  they  at  least  enabled  many  a  poor 
boy  to  finish  his  college  course  without  too  large  a  debt. 

Our  college  was  not  visited  by  as  great  a  number  of  dis- 
tinguished men  as  at  present,  yet  we  had  a  course  of  lectures 
every  winter,  for  those  were  the  days  when  the  "  Lyceum  " 
flourished,  and  the  voice  of  the  orator  was  heard  in  the  land. 
Who  was  the  lecturer  among  the  coterie  of  Boston  wits  who 
declared  that  F-A-M-E  spelt  "  Fifty  And  My  Expenses  "? 
I  am  inclined  to  think  that  it  was  Edward  Everett  Hale, 
though  I  remember  that  when  I  had  something  to  do  with  the 
college  lecture  course,  he  decided  that  oyie  hundred  dollars  was 
about  the  right  stipend  for  him.  It  seemed  to  us  a  large 
sum,  but  when  he  explained  that  he  could  earn  as  much  by 
staying  at  home  and  writing  articles  we  concluded  that  we  must 
have  him,  "  irregardless  "  of  expense.  In  those  days  we  heard 
W.  H.  H.  Murray,  the  brilliant  meteor  that  flashed  across 
the  theological  sky  in  Boston  and  soon  went  out  in  darkness. 
He  gave  us  his  tirade  against  "  Deacons,"  with  special  ref- 
erence to  Park  Street  Church  deacons.  He  was  at  that  time 
also  editor  of  The  Golden  Rule,  and  I  little  thought  that  I 
should  follow  him  in  the  editorial  office  and  actually  inherit 
the  wooden  chair  with  a  collapsible  writing  table  on  which 
he  wrote  his  sermons  and  editorials  and  Adirondack  yarns. 
Theodore  Tilton,  too,  about  the  time  of  his  memorable  con- 
test with  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  came  to  enlighten  us  about  our 
political  duties,  and,  if  I  remember  rightly,  he  advised  us  to 
vote  for  Horace  Greeley. 

I  recall,  also  at  one  commencement  time,  seeing  the  good 
gray  poet,  Walt  Whitman,  shufiling  down  the  main  street  of 
Hanover,   where   he   had   come   to   deliver  a  commencement 


54  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

poem.  He  wore  a  blue  flannel  shirt  open  at  the  neck,  his  voice 
was  muffled,  and  I  could  not  hear  his  poem  and  probably 
could  not  have  understood  it  if  I  had  heard  it,  but  I  remember 
that  as  I  afterwards  passed  him  on  the  street  he  gave  me  a 
gruff  but  hearty  "  good  morning." 

My  Psi  U  connections  gave  me  the  privilege  of  writing  to 
the  celebrated  essayists.  Brother  E.  P.  Whipple,  Brother 
Charles  Dudley  Warner,  and  others,  asking  for  poems  or  ad- 
dresses for  convention  days.  I  did  not  expect  to  get  them,  but 
it  enabled  me  to  secure  some  treasures  for  my  autograph 
album.  Charles  Dudley  Warner,  I  remember,  whom  I  had 
modestly  asked  to  write  a  poem  to  grace  some  occasion  for 
his  younger  brethren,  replied  that  he  had  never  written  a  poem 
in  his  life  and  would  have  to  decline  "  with  thanks  and  tears." 

While  teaching  school  in  Boxford  I  drove  one  bitterly  cold 
night  with  Bradley  to  Lawrence  to  hear  Wendell  Phillips 
lecture  on  "  The  Lost  Arts,"  a  lecture  which  he  gave  some 
hundreds  of  times,  and  always  with  rare  effect.  I  shall  never 
forget  that  tall,  graceful  form  surmounted  by  a  splendidly 
symmetrical  head,  or  that  mellifluous  voice  which  was  rarely 
raised  above  the  conversational  tone,  but  always  conveyed  his 
exact  meaning  with  a  nicety  of  expression,  which  the  orator 
who  tears  passion  to  tatters  never  knows.  The  anti-slavery 
cause  was  indeed  favored  by  the  advocacy  of  America's  great- 
est orators  and  writers,  and  none  was  greater  than  Wendell 
Phillips. 

Thus  passed  my  college  days,  days  which  are  always  more 
likely  to  make  a  more  imperishable  impression  on  a  boy's 
memory  than  any  others.  For  the  benefit  of  a  few  old  Dart- 
mouth men,  who  may  possibly  honor  me  by  reading  these  pages, 
I  would  say  that  I  roomed,  as  some  of  them  did,  first  in  the 
Haynes  house  on  the  main  street,  then  at  Barney  McCabes' 
where  the  library  now  stands,  and  for  the  last  year  in  No.  lO 
Reed  Hall,  with  its  splendid  outlook  over  Balch  Hill  and  to- 
ward Moose  Mountain. 


DARTMOUTH    DAYS  SS 

How  crude  and  unscientific  the  Dartmouth  sports  of  those 
days  would  seem  to  a  baseball  fan  or  a  football  enthusiast  of 
to-day!  Baseball  was  just  beginning  to  be  reduced  to  Medean 
and  Persian  laws,  which  were  supplanting  the  "  round  ball  " 
and  "  two  old  cat,"  of  former  days.  Tennis  was  unknown,  as 
well  as  basket-ball,  and  the  football  we  played  would  to-day 
be  considered  a  mere  undisciplined  scrimmage  for  the  pigskin. 
Yet  what  rare  fun  was  the  old  fashioned  football,  when  half 
a  dozen  fellows  would  get  out  on  the  campus  and  shout  with 
stentorian  lungs:  "  Whole  divisions!  Whole  divisions!  "  and 
the  seniors  and  sophomores,  the  juniors  and  freshmen,  would 
come  streaming  down  from  Dartmouth  and  Thornton  and 
Wentworth  and  Reed  and  line  up  against  each  other  for  a 
furious  combat!  After  "the  warning"  the  man  who  could 
most  often  get  the  ball  and  do  the  most  vigorous  kicking  was 
the  best  fellow.  We  never  heard  the  mysterious  numbers 
called  out,  or  even  knew  the  difference  between  a  quarter-back 
and  a  half-back,  but  we  were  all  in  it,  and  no  one  thought  of 
sitting  on  the  bleachers  while  twenty-two  men  got  all  the 
exercise. 

The  annual  cane  rush  might  perhaps  be  counted  among  the 
athletic  sports  of  the  day,  and  one  of  my  most  vivid  memories 
is  that  of  the  tall,  dignified,  and  portly  form  of  President 
Smith  in  spotless  garments,  getting  into  the  midst  of  the  fray, 
and  shouting  in  classic  phrase,  "  Disperse,  young  men,  disperse 
to  your  rooms!  "  They  finally  dispersed,  to  be  sure,  after 
the  sophomores  secured  the  fragments  of  the  cane,  but  not  until 
the  worthy  president  had  been  hustled  (without  the  least  in- 
tention of  course),  and  his  polished  silk  hat  ruffled,  I  fear, 
beyond  repair. 

Those  were  rough  old  days  in  some  respects  when  the  fresh- 
men's seats  in  chapel  were  once  in  a  .while  drenched  with  a 
liberal  supply  of  kerosene  oil,  and  occasionally  a  corpse  from 
the  dissecting  room  of  the  Medical  school  was  set  up  in  their 
seats  to  frighten  the  new-comers  fresh  from  their  guileless 


^6  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

homes.  We  may  congratulate  ourselves  that  such  "  rough- 
housing  "  is  a  thing  of  the  past. 

In  the  late  days  of  June  1873,  the  seventy  or  more  sur- 
vivors of  the  classical  department  of  the  senior  class  were 
graduated,  the  Scientific  students  having  a  separate  commence- 
ment day.  The  commencement  exercises  were  comparatively 
simple.  We  had  no  caps  or  gowns,  but  every  senior  who 
could  afford  it,  and  there  were  few  who  could  not,  sported  a 
tall  hat  in  memory,  perhaps,  of  Daniel  Webster.  Nor  were 
there  any  gorgeously  arrayed  trustees  and  distinguished  alumni 
upon  the  platform,  declaring  by  their  fine  colored  feathers 
whether  they  were  M.A.'s  or  PH.D.'s,  D.D.'s,  or  LL.D's. 

But  the  commencement  exercises  always  attracted  a  crowd, 
and  each  of  the  many  speakers  on  the  programme  was  as- 
sured of  the  sympathetic  and  often  tearful  attention  of  a 
father  or  mother,  or  perhaps  a  sweetheart,  in  the  gallery.  The 
red  ribbon  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  was  not  as  great  a  distinc- 
tion perhaps  in  those  days,  for  it  was  given  to  all  in  the  first 
third  of  the  class.  Otherwise  I  might  not  be  entitled  to  wear 
"  the  key,"  though  I  graduated,  if  I  remember  rightly  number 
1 2  in  the  class. 

The  next  day  we  separated,  some  to  meet  frequently,  others 
occasionally  at  class  reunions,  but  some  never  again. 

Of  late  years  Dartmouth  has  wonderfully  expanded,  far 
outstripping  its  old  rivals,  and  equalling  Harvard  and  Yale  in 
the  number  of  its  undergraduate  students  in  academic  studies. 

Freshmen  classes  of  six  hundred  are  the  rule  (all  that  the 
town  can  possibly  accommodate),  while  fifteen  hundred  or 
more  each  year  have  to  be  refused  admittance  for  lack  of  room. 

Dartmouth's  great  President,  William  J.  Tucker,  during  his 
administration  started  this  wonderful  advance  in  numbers  and 
equipment,  and  the  present  President  Ernest  Martin  Hop- 
kins, is  his  worthy  and  eminently  successful  successor,  I  am 
glad  to  have  a  son  (Eugene  Francis  Clark)  as  secretary  to  the 
college  and  Professor  in  the  Department  of  German. 


Chapter    VI 
Years  i 873-1 876 

ANDOVER    DAYS 

TWO    GREAT    THEOLOGIANS    AND    TEACHERS 


SERMON     CLUBS 


MISSION      WORK 

WIPERS   FORBEARS. 


WHERE      I      MET      MY      FATE 


MY 


DID  not  fully  make  up  my  mind  as  to  what 
my  life-work  should  be  until  near  the  end 
of  my  senior  year  in  college,  when  the  de- 
sires of  my  parents,  the  advice  of  President 
Smith,  and  above  all  my  own  convictions  of 
duty,  determined  me  to  study  for  the  min- 
istry. 

I  had  been  wavering  between  journalism,  for  which  I  had 
much  liking  and  perhaps  a  little  aptitude,  and  the  ministry, 
but  the  weightier  sense  of  duty  overcame  boyish  inclination. 
I  must  also  acknowledge  that  it  was  an  easier  thing  in  those 
days  for  the  graduate  of  an  Eastern  college  to  enter  the  minis- 
try than  it  would  be  to-day,  where  prospective  theological 
students  are  often  looked  upon  at  "  Weirs." 

Andover  was  then  the  great  theological  seminary  of  New 
England,  as  it  had  been  from  the  beginning,  largely  because 
it  had  been  presided  over  by  the  greatest  theologians  of  their 
time,  a  succession  which  perhaps  reached  the  climax  of  its 
intellectual  and  spiritual  strength  in  Professors  Park  and 
Phelps,  who  were  then  the  presiding  geniuses  of  the  institu- 
tion. 

That  this  pre-eminence  was  recognized  by  many  outside  of 

57 


58  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN     MANY    LANDS 

the  Congregational  denomination  was  indicated  by  the  fact 
that  Phillips  Brooks,  then  in  the  height  of  his  commanding 
power  as  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Boston,  sent  many  young 
Episcopalians  to  Andover  to  obtain  the  foundation  of  their 
theological  belief,  though  they  usually  finished  at  some  Epis- 
copal Seminary.  Among  these  Episcopalian  students  was 
William  Lawrence,  now  the  beloved  bishop  of  Massachusetts, 
and  the  immediate  successor  of  Bishop  Brooks.  The  younger 
brother  of  Phillips  Brooks,  John  Cotton  Brooks,  was  my  class- 
mate and  roommate  during  my  junior  year,  though  he  spent 
most  of  his  nights  in  his  Boston  home.  For  many  years  and 
until  his  death,  he  was  the  rector  of  Christ  Church,  Spring- 
field. In  his  seminary  days  he  was  a  fellow  of  infinite  jest 
and  high  spirits,  and  he  could  never  settle  down  for  a  "  go  " 
at  the  Hebrew  lexicon  or  grammar  without  first  throwing  all 
the  sofa  pillows  in  the  room  at  my  head. 

Of  all  the  teachers  whom  I  have  ever  known,  perhaps  I 
might  say  of  all  the  men  I  have  ever  known,  Professor  Edwards 

A.  Park  was  the  most  pre-eminent  in  his  personality.  It  was 
no  task  to  take  his  lectures.  Students  looked  forward  to  them 
as  to  a  rare  treat,  as  they  would  to  a  lyceum  lecture  by  John 

B.  Gough  or  some  other  brilliant  light  of  the  lyceum  plat- 
form. Professor  Park's  logic  was  unanswerable  if  we  accepted 
his  premises,  as  most  of  us  did  without  hesitation,  and  every 
lecture  was  lighted  up  by  a  rare  humor,  which  never  seemed  to 
lose  its  edge  as  do  the  oft-repeated  humorous  interludes  of 
many  teachers. 

Professor  Park's  physical  proportions  were  as  impressive  as 
his  intellectual.  On  no  other  man  did  I  ever  see  such  a  brain- 
dome.  Yet  his  smile  was  as  winning  as  a  child's,  and  before  a 
specially  good  story  his  mouth  would  pucker  up  charmingly 
and  we  knew  that  something  extraordinarily  good  was  coming. 
His  humor  ,was  saved  for  his  lectures  however.  In  preaching 
he  ,was  serious,  exalted,  majestic.  In  hearing  him  we  could 
imagine  how  Jonathan  Edwards,  from  whom  he  was  directly 


ANDOVER    DAYS 


59 


descended,  as  his  first  name  indicated,  must  have  swayed  his 
audiences.  He  preached  his  famous  "  Judas  "  and  "  Peter  " 
sermons  in  Andover  once  every  two  or  three  years,  and  those 
were  great  occasions,  not  only  for  the  students  but  for  all  the 
people  who  could  crowd  the  old  seminary  chapel. 

In  the  earlier  years  of  his  connection  with  the  seminary, 
when  he  was  professor  of  Homiletics,  he  had  the  reputation 
of  being  unduly  severe.     I  have  heard  my  father  tell  about  a 


Dr.  Edwards  A.  Park 
Professor  of  Systematic  Theology,  Andover  Theological  Seminary. 

young  man  in  his  seminary  class  who  preached  a  sermon  on 
total  depravity,  taking  the  ground  that  every  unconverted 
man  was  as  bad  as  he  could  be,  and  using  for  his  text  the 
story  of  the  swine  that  ran  violently  down  a  steep  place  into 
the  sea  and  were  drowned. 

Professor  Park  listened  as  patiently  as  he  could  to  the  end 
of  the  sermon,  which  was  preached  as  a  trial  sermon  before 
the  students.  The  only  criticism  he  made  was,  "  I  advise  you, 
young  man,  to  throw  that  sermon  where  the  hogs  went." 


« 


60  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

But  whatever  may  have  been  Professor  Park's  pungency  of 
rebuke  in  his  earlier  days,  I  never  saw  anything  of  it  during 
my  seminary  course,  nor  ever  heard  a  harsh  word  of  criticism 
for  any  one  of  the  students.  His  geniality  and  good  humor 
were  as  marked  in  the  home  as  in  the  classroom,  and  his  quiet 
jokes  will  be  long  remembered.  I  recollect  calling  upon  him  a 
few  years  after  graduation,  when  he  related  a  story  of  how 
easily  some  men  can  be  imposed  upon  by  a  solemn  face.  It 
was  at  the  time  of  the  American  Board  controversy  over  mis- 
sionaries who  believed  in  the  possibility  of  a  second  probation, 
and  there  was  some  question  about  returning  to  his  field  Rev. 
Robert  Hume,  who  harbored  the  possibility  of  some  such 
hope  for  some  heathen.  "  Yesterday,"  said  Professor  Park, 
"  a  caller  asked  me  if  I  supposed  the  Board  would 
send  Mr.  Hume  back.  '  No,'  said  I,  '  they  would  no 
more  send  him  back  than  they  would  send  his  uncle 
back.'  "  "  Who  was  his  uncle,"  said  the  caller.  "  Why,  didn't 
you  know,"  answered  Professor  Park,  with  his  peculiarly 
serious  and  guileless  expression,  "  that  his  uncle  was  David 
Hume,  the  great  infidel  historian?  "  "  No,"  said  the  visitor 
in  amazement,  "was  her  "  The  Professor  enjoyed  a  hearty 
laugh  over  his  visitor's  credulity,  imposed  upon  as  he  was,  for 
the  moment  at  least,  by  the  professor's  solemn  air.  It  showed 
me  also  that  the  professor  did  not  take  Mr.  Hume's  case 
quite  so  seriously  to  heart  as  did  some  other  defenders  of  the 
faith.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  Mr.  Hume  was  sent  back, 
and  became  and  is  one  of  the  most  honored,  beloved,  and 
eminent  missionaries  of  the  American  Board. 

It  was  inevitable  that  many  stories,  most  of  them  probably 
apocrypha],  should  circulate  in  Andover  about  this  professor. 
One  of  the  most  popular  of  these  stories  was  to  the  effect  that 
he  turned  up  on  one  occasion,  without  any  previous  announce- 
ment, in  the  classroom  of  a  German  professor,  and  that  by  his 
questions  and  the  inevitableness  of  his  logic  he  completely 
floored  the  theologian  who  at  last  refused  to  answer  his  ques- 


ANDOVER    DAYS  6 1 

tions.  When  asked  afterwards  who  the  stranger  was  he  is 
said  to  have  answered,  "  I  don't  know,  but  I  think  it  was 
either  the  devil  or  Professor  Park  of  Andover." 

A  more  likely  story,  which  accords  with  the  Professor's 
quiet  New  England  humor,  related  that,  when  on  a  foreign 
hotel  register  he  signed  his  name  "  Edwards  A.  Park,  An- 
dover," the  hotel  clerk  desired  to  know  where  Andover  might 
be.  With  solemn  and  weighty  assurance  Professor  Park  said 
impressively,  "  Sir,  it  is  just  seven  miles  from  Tewksbury," 
a  small  town,  chiefly  noted  for  a  great  State  almshouse.  "  Oh," 
said  the  clerk,  "  I  was  not  aware  of  the  location  of  your  city." 

Professor  Phelps's  reputation  was  scarcely  less  than  that  of 
his  distinguished  colleague,  but  of  a  different  sort.  His 
choice  English  diction,  a  style  that  has  never  been  surpassed 
by  an  American  author,  and  his  deep  spirituality,  made  im- 
pressive by  a  benignant,  if  somewhat  sad  face,  impressed  all 
who  came  under  his  influence. 

Professor  Churchill,  teacher  of  Oratory  and  Elocution,  who 
in  Professor  Phelps's  absence  because  of  illness,  read  many  of 
his  lectures  to  us,  was  of  a  still  different  type,  but  was  im- 
mensely popular  with  the  students.  Genial,  jovial,  and 
kindly  to  the  last  degree,  he  won  all  our  hearts,  as  well  as 
golden  opinions  and  golden  dollars,  by  his  inimitable  public 
readings.  He  especially  excelled  in  his  portraiture  of  Dickens' 
characters,  and  was  for  many  years  one  of  the  most  popular 
men  on  the  lyceum  platform. 

Professor  Thayer  deserved  the  reputation  of  being  one 
of  the  greatest  Greek  scholars  in  the  country,  but  his  exegesis 
was  so  minute  and  critical  that  in  the  seminary  course  we 
managed  to  study  but  very  few  chapters,  and  scarcely  got  an 
adequate  idea  of  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testament. 

Professor  Egbert  C.  Smyth  and  Professor  Charles  M.  Mead 
were  also  very  widely  known  for  their  scholarship,  though  it 
was  not  of  a  popular  character,  and  impressed  only  the  like- 
minded  scholarly  few. 


62  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

The  intellectual  life  of  Andover  was  stimulating,  not  only 
in  the  classrooms  but  in  the  student  gatherings.  The 
Rhetorical  Society,  familiarly  known  as  the  "  Porter  Rhet," 
was  especially  valuable  for  future  sermonizers  and  preachers. 
The  weekly  critic  neither  gave  quarter  nor  asked  it.  He 
often  tried  to  see  how  completely  he  could  flay  the  essays  of 
the  other  men,  and,  when  their  turn  came,  their  knives  were 
always  whetted  for  the  scalp  of  the  critic  of  the  previous  week. 
Yet  it  was  all  done  good  naturedly,  and  I  never  knew  of  any 
hard  feelings  that  resulted. 

Our  sermon  clubs  were  another  means  of  intellectual  at- 
trition, and  every  week  we  tried  to  prove  the  truth  of  Solo- 
mon's proverb,  as  "  iron  sharpeneth  iron,  so  a  man  sharpeneth 
the  countenance  of  his  friend."  Many  a  sermon  plan  was 
consigned  to  the  scrap-heap  after  it  had  been  presented  to  the 
club,  and  many  a  beautifully  finished  discourse,  the  pet  pro- 
duction of  the  young  theologue,  was  never  preached  after  his 
classmates  had  had  their  say  about  it. 

I  belonged  to  two  of  these  clubs,  one  in  my  own  class,  and 
another  in  the  class  ahead  of  me,  whose  other  members  were 
Harry  P.  Nichols,  later  an  eminent  Episcopal  rector  of  New 
York  City,  C.  J.  H.  Ropes,  for  many  years  a  well-known  pro- 
fessor in  Bangor  Seminary,  and  James  L.  Hill,  a  breezy 
Westerner,  of  whom  I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  later  in 
these  pages. 

The  professors  did  not  encourage  the  students  to  preach 
during  the  earlier  years  of  their  seminary  course,  though 
many  strained  the  rules  because  of  their  desire  to  do  good 
along  the  lines  of  their  chosen  profession,  a  desire  accentuated, 
perhaps,  by  their  lean  pocketbooks.  My  first  sermon,  I  re- 
member, was  preached  in  the  old  Presbyterian  church  at  New 
Boston,  N.  H.,  and  six  services  a  Sunday  since,  have  often 
tired  me  less  than  that  maiden  effort  amid  the  New  Hamp- 
shire hills.  "  Were  you  not  very  tired  after  your  long 
sermon?  "    said   a    Scotch    parishioner   to    his    pastor.     "  Ay, 


ANDOVER    DAYS  63 

mon,"  was  the  reply,  "  but  it  would  ha'  done  ye  good  to  see 
how  tired  the  people  were."  I  hope  my  audience  was  not  as 
much  exhausted  as  was  the  preacher j  at  any  rate  they  asked 
me  to  come  again  and  settle  there,  but  it  was  too  early  in  my 
seminary  course  to  accept  this  invitation. 

Franklin,  N.  H.,  was  another  favorite  "  supply  "  for  An- 
dover  students  of  those  days,  not  only  because  of  the  fairly 


Harriet  Elizabeth  Abbott,  Mrs.  Clark 
As  a  school  girl  of  thirteen  in  Abbott  Academy,  Andover,  Mass. 

good  honorarium,  but  because  of  the  kindly  audience  and 
generous  hosts,  and  when  the  theologues  came  back  to  An- 
dover, they  would  tell  with  a  conscious  glow  of  satisfaction 
how  a  United  States  Senator  was  in  the  audience,  and  a  rail- 
road president  started  the  wood  fire  in  the  air-tight  stove  in 
their  room  before  they  rose  in  the  morning.  Let  us  hope  that 
a  more  august  Presence  still  was  in  those  audiences,  and  that 


64  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

a  benediction  ,was  left  behind  in  the  home  of  the  Senator  and 
the  railroad  president  as  well  as  of  all  others  in  the  audience. 

My  literary  activities  during  my  seminary  course  brought 
me  in  some  money  from  St.  Nicholas  and  other  papers  and 
magazines,  and  enabled  me  as  a  newspaper  correspondent  to 
take  my  adopted  father  on  a  vacation  trip  to  Prince  Edward 
Island  and  Cape  Breton,  which  we  both  greatly  enjoyed. 
While  in  the  Seminary  my  first  book  "  Our  Vacations  "  was 
published  by  Estes  and  Lauriat  of  Boston,  and  had  a  fair 
sale. 

Voluntary  and  unpaid  mission  work  was  not  neglected  by 
Andover  students.  It  fell  to  my  lot  to  teach  a  Sunday-school 
class  in  the  Abbott  Village  Mission  School,  and  here  I  met  my 
fate,  for  another  teacher  in  that  same  school  was  Miss  Harriet 
Elizabeth  Abbott,  who  taught  the  primary  class,  played  the 
cabinet  organ,  and  was  generally  the  life  and  inspiration  of 
the  school.  I  shall  not  go  into  particulars  or  tell  how  on  a 
rainy  evening  under  the  same  umbrella,  on  our  return  from 
Abbott  Village  to  Andover  Hill,  a  question  of  very  con- 
siderable importance  to  us  both  was  settled.  As  she  is  man- 
ipulating the  typewriter  while  I  dictate  these  words,  it  has  been 
difficult  for  me  to  write  what  I  have  already  dictated  and  I 
am  not  allowed  to  say  anything  further  on  this  head,  except 
that  now  it  is  more  than  forty-seven  years  since  that  rainy 
March  evening  in  Andover,  and  that  I  have  thanked  God 
more  fervently  each  year  for  Abbott  Village  and  Andover 
Hill! 

She  will,  however,  allow  me  to  add  that  her  father  was  a 
pastor  in  Hampton  Falls,  N.  H.,  and  that  her  mother,  for 
many  years  after  her  husband's  death,  mothered  a  multitude 
of  students  in  the  big  square  three-story  house  at  the  corner  of 
Main  and  Phillips  Streets  in  Andover. 

My  wife's  grandfather  ,was  for  fifty  years  pastor  of  the 
old  church  in  North  Hampton,  N.  H.,  and  was  known  and 
loved  as  "  Father  French  "  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  . 


ANDOVER    DAYS  6S 

of  the  State.  He  brought  up  a  family  of  eleven  children  on  a 
salary  of  four  hundred  dollars  a  year,  gave  all  his  children 
a  good  education,  and  left  to  them  and  to  his  grandchildren 
a  blessed  memory. 

Her  great  uncle,  Samuel  Farrar,  or  "  Squire  Farrar,"  as  he 
was  generally  called,  was  famous  in  Andover  for  his  devotion 
to  the  seminary,  of  which  he  was  treasurer  for  many  years.     He 


Harriet  Elizabeth  Abbott 
The  girl  I  married,  October  3,   1876. 

gave  all  his  time,  and  eventually  all  his  money  to  the  seminary, 
and  his  benignant  portrait  can  be  seen  in  the  "  Farrar  Room  " 
in  the  splendid  new  Andover  Hall  at  Cambridge.  What  the 
old  gentleman  .would  have  thought  of  Andover's  "  new  de- 
partures," and  of  her  close  attachment  to  Harvard,  to  whose 
theology  he  was  bitterly  opposed,  I  will  leave  it  to  my  readers 
to  conjecture. 


66  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

My  future  wife's  descent  on  one  side  of  the  family  was  from 
that  couple  distinguished  in  song  and  story,  John  Alden  and 
Priscilla  Mullens.  I  have  always  rejoiced  that  John  "  spoke 
for  himself  "  on  a  certain  occasion  that  Longfellow  has  made 
memorable. 

We  were  married  on  October  3,  1876,  in  the  beautiful  Semi- 
nary Chapel  whose  dedication  had  been  hastened  that  the 
ceremony  might  take  place  there.  The  knot  was  tied  by  Pro- 
fessor Egbert  C.  Smyth,  before  a  large  assembly  of  Andover 
citizens  and  students,  and  the  next  day  we  started  on  a  brief 
tour  to  Montreal,  Quebec,  Ottawa,  and  Aylmer,  my  early 
home.  A  perusal  of  that  charming  idyl,  "  Their  Wedding 
Journey,"  by  William  D.  Howells,  then  recently  published, 
whose  characters  took  nearly  the  same  honeymoon  trip,  will 
sufficiently  describe  the  joys  of  that  journey,  which  ended  at 
Portland  the  day  before  my  actual  entrance  upon  the  gospel 
ministry. 

Near  the  end  of  my  senior  year  at  Andover  I  had  been 
called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  W^illiston  Church  of  Portland, 
Maine,  an  offshoot  from  State  Street  Church,  which  held  its 
services  in  a  humble  chapel  on  the  corner  of  May  and  Dan- 
f orth  Streets.  Here  a  church  of  some  fifty  members  had  been 
gathered,  together  with  a  vigorous  Sunday  school.  Among 
these  fifty  men  and  women  were  some  of  the  rarest  Christians 
I  had  ever  known,  —  men  and  women  who  in  spite  of  the  few- 
ness of  their  numbers  and  the  scantiness  of  their  resources 
would  inevitably  form  the  nucleus  of  a  strong  and  vigorous 
church.     Its  story  must  be  reserved  for  another  chapter. 


Chapter    VII 
Years    i  876-1 883 

WILLISTON    DAYS 


A  YOUNG   pastor's   FIRST   CHURCH  THE    RAPID    GROWTH    OF 

williston the  "beautiful  city  by  the  sea  " 

Maine's    great    men  —  personal    recollections    of 
thomas  b.  reed. 

OW  much  a  young  minister's  first  pastorate 
has  to  do  with  his  future  success  or  failure! 
He  may  be  discouraged,  disheartened, 
made  almost  disgusted  with  the  ministry  by 
an  unresponsive,  captious,  or  quarrelsome 
people  j  or  the  opposite  kind  of  a  church 
may  lead  him  to  feel  that  there  is  no  profession;  so  exalted  and 
so  well  worth  while  as  the  gospel  ministry.  It  is  the  fashion 
of  many  modern  novelists  to  depict  the  former  kind  of  church, 
rare,  and  by  no  means  typical,  as  it  is,  and  to  give  the  im- 
pression that  all  the  good  people  are  outside  of  the  church, 
and  all  the  mean  people  within  its  communion. 

Williston  Church  was  emphatically  of  the  right  sort.  It 
was  only  four  years  old  when  I  became  its  pastor,  and  had  all 
the  enthusiasm,  buoyancy,  and  hopefulness  of  youth.  Its 
membership  of  about  fifty  was  largely  composed  of  young 
men  and  women  who  desired  in  this  new  church  to  find  larger 
scope  for  their  activities  than  they  could  easily  find  in  the 
old,  staid  State  Street  Church,  from  which  they  had  come. 
Moreover  the  church  was  in  a  new  and  growing  part  of  the 
city,  not  far  from  the  beautiful  Western  Promenade  with  its 

67 


68 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 


view  of  the  White  Mountains  in  the  distance,  and  Deering's 
Oalcs,  of  which  Longfellow  wrote  so  lovingly,  near  by. 
Though  largely  composed  of  poor  people  or  those  in 
very  moderate  circumstances  at  the  beginning,  the  loca- 
tion of  the  church  soon  drew  to  its  membership  several 
of  the  wealthier  class  who  were  very  soon  able  to  make 
the  church  self-sustaining.  This  happy  mingling  of  rich 
and   poor,   a   commingling   which   had   no   trace   of   servility 


WiLLiSTON  Chapel 
Out  of  which  grew  WilHston  Church. 

on  one  side,  or  condescending  patronage  on  the  other, 
was  another  most  happy  element  which  made  for  the  im- 
mediate success  of  the  church.  Indeed,  so  rapidly  did 
it  grow  in  its  membership,  its  congregations,  and  its  Sunday 
school  that  some  other  churches  began  to  look  askance  upon 
this  new  enterprise. 

"What  has  become  of  our  cat?  "  a  neighboring  minister's 
wife  is  reported  to  have  asked  her  husband  concerning  a  stray 
feline.     "  I   don't  know,"   answered   her  spouse,   "  unless  it 


WILLISTON    DAYS  69 

has  gone  over  to  Willistoii  with  the  rest  of  the  folks."  The 
great  majority  of  new  members,  however,  were  not  drawn 
from  other  churches,  but  came  into  our  church  on  confession 
of  their  faith,  and,  during  the  seven  years  of  my  pastorate, 
more  than  fifty  on  an  average  were  received  each  year. 

Before  I  accepted  the  call  I  was  convinced  that  the  limit  of 
growth  had  been  nearly  reached  if  we  remained  in  the  little 
wooden  chapel  on  the  corner  of  May  and  Danforth  Streets,  a 
chapel  which  would  hold  perhaps  two  hundred  people  when 
crowded,  and  one  of  the  conditions  of  my  accepting  the  call 
was  that,  within  a  year,  the  church  should  make  an  effort  to 
"  move  to  a  more  eligible  location  and  build  a  new  edifice." 

This  seemed  indeed  at  first  a  "  large  order  "  for  the  fifty 
church  members  with  their  scanty  resources,  but,  before  the 
year  was  out,  it  seemed  much  more  feasible,  and,  within  less 
than  two  years  a  beautiful  new  brick  church  was  erected  and 
dedicated  on  the  corner  of  Thomas  and  Carrell  Streets  in  the 
most  attractive  and  rapidly-growing  section  of  the  city  of 
Portland. 

A  ten  thousand  dollar  debt  when  the  church  was  completed 
looked  colossal  indeed,  since  we  supposed  that  every  one  had 
strained  himself  to  the  utmost  in  building  the  church.  But 
the  very  first  Sunday  of  its  occupancy  the  debt  was  fully  sub- 
scribed, and  the  church  was  dedicated  entirely  free  from  any 
encumbrance.  One  happy  feature  of  this  first  Sunday  in 
the  new  church  was  the  presentation  of  nine  babies,  whose 
parents  consecrated  them  to  the  Master's  service,  among  them 
our  own   little  daughter,   Maude  Williston   Clark. 

I  have  often  wondered  at  the  generosity  and  considerate- 
ness  of  my  parishioners.  As  I  look  over  a  few  of  the  sermons 
of  those  older  days  I  am  amazed  that  they  should  have  been 
received  with  such  kindly  appreciation.  I  imagine,  however, 
that  the  earnestness  and  enthusiasm  of  a  young  preacher  often 
makes  up  for  defects  in  thought  and  style  which  would  not 
be  so  easily  condoned  in  an  older  man,  and  that  this  fresh  and 


70  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

eager  enthusiasm  largely  accounts  for  the  popularity  of  the 
young  "  theologue  "  in  our  pulpits. 

The  prayer  meetings  of  Williston  Church  were  from  the 
beginning  famous  for  their  numbers  in  proportion  to  the  church 
membership,  and  for  genuine  vigor  and  spirituality,  I  have 
never  known  them  to  be  surpassed.  The  Christian  Endeavor 
society,  which  was  formed  in  the  fifth  year  of  my  pastorate, 
was  a  constant  recruitin,g-ground  not  only  for  the  young 
people's  meeting,  but  for  the  mid-week  meeting  of  the  church. 
I  have  been  told  that  during  a  recent  interregnum  of  pastor- 
ates, when,  for  a  year,  Williston  Church  was  without  an  or- 
dained leader,  more  than  forty  laymen  were  found  who  were 
ready  to  conduct  the  mid-week  meeting,  so  that  for  almost  a 
full  year  the  meeting  had  a  different  leader  each  week. 

Portland  well  deserved,  even  more  than  its  larger  sister, 
Brooklyn,  the  name  of  "  The  City  of  Churches." .  In  those 
days  there  were  nine  Congregational  churches,  three  Baptist, 
three  Methodist,  two  Episcopal,  two  Universalist,  and  two 
Unitarian  churches,  as  well  as  two  large  Catholic  churches. 
These,  with  various  conventicles  for  the  smaller  sects,  cer- 
tainly furnished  spiritual  opportunities  sufficient  for  a  city  of 
30,000  people. 

In  many  ways  Portland  was  an  ideal  city  for  home-makers. 
It  was  neither  so  large  that  one  was  lost  in  it  and  his  influence 
unappreciable,  nor  so  small  as  to  be  concerned  only  with  pro- 
vincial matters  and  neighborhood  gossip.  It  was  a  country- 
city,  combining  the  advantages  of  both  city  and  country.  In 
the  late  seventies  it  was  introducing  the  telephone,  which  was 
just  beginning  to  come  into  use,  but  it  had  not  yet  attained  to 
electric  lights,  and  the  infrequent  street  cars  were  pulled  by 
horses.  In  the  winter  wheels  .were  exchanged  for  runners, 
and  the  snow,  trodden  down  hard  in  the  middle  of  the  street, 
was  heaped  up  on  the  sides  so  that  persons  on  opposite  side- 
walks could  scarcely  see  each  other  because  of  the  snow  ram- 
parts which  divided  them. 


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WILLISTON    DAYS  73 

Portland,  and,  indeed,  the  whole  State  of  Maine  was  at  that 
time  famous  for  the  influence  of  its  leading  citizens  in  nation- 
wide affairs.  William  Pitt  Fessenden,  who  loomed  so  large 
in  national  concerns  during  the  Civil  War,  was  living  in  re- 
tirement in  his  beautiful  colonial  home  on  State  Street. 
Neal  Dow's  home  on  Congress  Street  was  pointed  out  to  all 
visitors,  and  the  little  old  gentleman  with  his  halo  of  white 
hair  and  beard,  though  well  on  toward  the  eighties,  was  still 
prominent  in  municipal  and  State  affairs,  and  as  fiery  as  ever  in 
his  denunciation  of  the  saloon,  and  in  his  support  of  the  pro- 
hibition law  which  he  had  fathered  so  many  years  before. 

James  G.  Blaine  was  a  name  to  conjure  by.  He  lived  in 
Augusta,  but  he  was  frequently  in  Portland  on  political  and 
other  business.  Though  I  was  never  personally  acquainted 
with  him,  I  remember  well  his  handsome  face  in  which  were 
set  two  of  the  most  piercing  black  eyes  that  I  ever  sawj  eyes 
that  commanded  attention  as  ,well  as  his  melodious  voice  and 
persuasive  utterance.  More  than  any  other  man  I  have  ever 
setn  he  cast  the  spell  called  "  magnetism,"  for  want  of  a 
better  name,  over  all  who  came  within  sound  of  his  voice  or 
reach  of  his  eye.  He  was  literally  a  "  spell-binder,"  and  his 
marvellous  memory  for  names  and  for  little  details  in  the  lives 
of  the  people  he  met,  added  to  his  remarkable  personal  and 
political  influence. 

One  of  the  deacons  of  the  Williston  Church  was  in  the  rail- 
way mail  service  of  the  Post  Oflice  Department.  As  he  was 
walking  along  Exchange  Street  one  day,  someone  from  behind 
put  his  arm  over  the  deacon's  shoulder  and  said  in  a  cheery 
tone,  "Hello,  JeflFerds,  how  is  the  P.  O.  D.?  "  Looking 
around  he  saw  that  it  was  none  other  than  the  Secretary  of 
State  of  the  United  States,  James  G.  Blaine,  who  thus 
familiarly  addressed  him,  and  it  can  be  imagined  that  Deacon 
Jefferds  voted  for  Blaine  whenever  he  had  opportunity,  who- 
ever might  be  the  opposing  candidates. 

Another  prominent  statesman  just  coming  into  power  was 


74  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Nelson  Dingley  of  Lewiston,  the  Speaker  of  the  House  for 
many  years,  and  author  of  the  Dingley  Tariif  Bill.  He  was 
prominent  in  religious  circles  as  well  as  in  national  politics, 
was  occasionally  seen  at  the  annual  meetings  of  the  Congrega- 
tional State  Conference  of  which  I  was  moderator  during  three 
years  of  my  pastorate  in  Portland.  Mr.  Dingley  was  after- 
wards moderator  of  the  National  Congregational  Council. 

Of  all  the  coterie  of  famous  Maine  statesmen  who  made 
that  era  so  distinguished  in  the  history  of  the  State,  and  gave 
to  the  commonwealth  more  influence  in  national  affairs  than 
was  accorded  to  a  dozen  other  States  combined,  Thomas 
Brackett  Reed  had,  in  many  respects,  the  most  interesting  and 
original  personality  of  all  of  them.  It  so  happened  that  I 
knew  him  better  than  any  of  the  others,  for  his  mother-in- 
law  and  brother-in-law  were  members  of  Williston  Church, 
and  for  many  years  he  was  a  summer  neighbor  at  Grand  Beach 
on  the  shores  of  Casco  Bay.  My  wife  and  I  were  his  guests 
in  Washington  before  he  became  Speaker  of  the  House,  but 
not  before  his  ready  repartee  and  caustic  wit  had  made  him 
a  power  to  be  reckoned  with  by  both  parties. 

But  it  was  at  the  seashore  that  I  knew  him  best.  His  great 
bulk  could  have  been  seen  any  early  morning,  rolling,  sailor 
fashion,  along  the  boardwalk,  usually  followed  by  my  dog 
Duke,  who  seemed  to  be  as  fond  of  him  as  were  his  human 
neighbors.  Mr.  Reed  and  I  were  both  trying  to  learn  to  ride 
the  bicycle  at  the  same  time,  an  art  in  which  neither  of  us 
became  proficient.  He  succeeded  better,  however,  in  amateur 
photography,  and  took  several  pictures  of  my  dog  and  his 
master.  In  one  of  these  I  was  seen  riding  towards  Old  Or- 
chard in  a  wobbly  fashion,  while  the  picture,  owing  to  some 
defect  in  development,  was  light-struck  immediately  over  my 
head.  In  sending  me  the  picture  afterwards  from  Wash- 
ington, he  wrote  that  if  he  were  not  afraid  of  being  irreverent 
he  should  label  this  picture  "  Paul  on  the  Way  to  Damascus." 

He  had  a  large  store  of  Bible  quotations  ready  to  his  hands 


WILLISTON    DAYS  75 

as  his  speeches  proved,  and  was  much  exercised  over  theo- 
logical questions.  Indeed,  during  his  early  years  he  had 
intended  to  study  for  the  ministry,  and  was  partially  supported 
in  his  college  course  by  State  Street  Church  on  that  account. 
His  views  having  changed  while  in  college,  however,  he  de- 
cided to  study  law  and  honorably  paici  back  to  the  church  all 
that  it  had  advanced  for  his  education.  His  political  op- 
ponents garbled  these  facts  in  various  circulars  and  pamphlets 
when  he  hrst  ran  for  Congress,  branding  him  as  a  dishonorable 
religious  renegade,  a  misrepresentation  which  I  was  able  to 
refute  in  one  or  two  religious  papers  of  influence.  But  when 
I  casually  mentioned  that  his  father-in-law  had  been  an 
honored  Congregational  minister,  the  harmless  item  of  in- 
formation acted  as  a  boomerang,  for  the  Democrats  at  once 
charged  him  with  trying  to  "  ride  into  Congress  on  the  backs 
of  his  wife's  relatives." 

Years  afterwards,  on  my  return  from  one  of  my  visits  to 
India,  he  had  a  serious  talk  with  me  about  the  mysterious 
ways  of  Providence  which  he  could  not  understand,  and  which 
allowed  millions  of  harmless  natives  to  die  in  the  awful  famine 
which  was  then  raging  in  India. 

The  last  conversation  with  him  that  I  remember  related  to 
the  Filipinos.  It  was  after  his  retirement  from  Congress, 
prompted  largely  by  his  disagreement  with  the  McKinley  ad- 
ministration on  the  Philippine  question.  Naturally  he  was 
not  fond  of  "the  little  Major"  as  he  called  McKinley,  who 
had  snatched  from  him  the  presidential  nomination  ,when  it 
was  almost  within  his  grasp,  and  he  totally  disagreed  with  him 
in  regard  to  the  retention  of  the  Philippines.  With  the  charac- 
teristic drawl,  which  marked  every  utterance  in  public  or  pri- 
vate, he  said,  in  answer  to  the  suggestion  that  it  was  our  op- 
portunity to  enter  the  Philippines  and  convert  and  civilize  the 
natives,  "  I  don't  think  it's  the  business  of  Uncle  Sam  to  set 
up  a  kindergarten  for  the  Filipinos,  or  to  be  their  wet  nurse." 

In  those  days  there  were  no  particularly  famous  literary 


76  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

men  in  Portland  though  J.  M.  Neale,  the  story  writer  and 
essayist,  was  living  when  I  first  went  there,  and  Portland  was 
particularly  proud  to  have  been  the  birthplace  of  Longfellow. 
The  house  in  .which  he  was  actually  born  had  become  a  poor 
and  dirty  Irish  tenement,  now  redeemed,  I  am  glad  to  know, 
and  to  be  preserved  for  the  loving  reverence  of  future  genera- 
tions. Portland  will  never  forget  that  she  has  been  im- 
mortalized in  more  than  one  of  Longfellow's  poems,  as  he 
wrote  of  the  "  beautiful  town  that  is  seated  by  the  sea,"  of 
"  Deering's  Oaks,"  of  the  "  black  wharves  "  where  lay  the 
ships  from  distant  lands,  and  the  swarthy  sailors  who  manned 
them. 

Every  line  of  "  My  Lost  Youth  "  is  full  of  memories  of 
Portland.     I  can  quote  but  two  verses: 

"  Often  I  think  of  the  beautiful  town 
That  is  seated   by   the   sea; 
Often  in   thought  go  up  and  down 
The  pleasant  streets  of  that  dear  old  town, 
And  my  youth  comes  back  to  me. 
And  a  verse  of  a  Lapland  song 
Is  haunting  my  memory  still : 
'  A  boy's  will  is  the  wind's  will, 
And  the  thoughts  of  youth  are  long,  long  thoughts.' 

"  I  can  see  the  shadowy  lines  of  its  trees, 
And  catch,  in  sudden  gleams, 
The  sheen  of  the  far-surrounding  seas, 
And  islands  that  were   the   Hesperides 
Of  all  my  boyish  dreams. 

And  the  burden  of  that  old  song. 
It  murmurs  and  whispers  still: 
'  A  boy's  will  is  the  wind's  will, 
And  the  thoughts  of  youth  are  long,  long  thoughts.'  " 


Chapter    VIII 
Year    i88i 

THE    BEGINNING    OF    THE    CHRISTIAN 
ENDEAVOR    MOVEMENT 

FEBRUARY  2,    I  88  I  PRE-CHRISTIAN   ENDEAVOR  SOCIETIES 

COOKIES   AND    A    CONSTITUTION  A    WONDERFUL    TRANS- 
FORMATION    GROWTH          OF          CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOP 

THROUGHOUT         THE         COUNTRY    DENOMINATIONAL 

OPPOSITION. 

HE  most  important  incident  of  my  life  in 
Portland,  though  it  seemed  of  small  conse- 
quence at  the  time,  was  the  formation  of  the 
first  society  of  Christian  Endeavor.  This 
^  took  place  on  February  2,  1881  in  the  par- 
3  lor  of  my  home  at  62  Neal  Street,  where  I 
was  then  living.  The  society  was  an  evolution,  rather  than  a 
creation  by  the  fiat  of  the  minister.  For  more  than  four  years, 
as  was  natural  in  such  a  church,  my  thoughts  and  prayers  had 
centred  around  the  development  of  the  young  people. 
Every  year  there  had  been  seasons  of  special  religious 
interest  among  them  in  connection  with  the  "  Week  of 
Prayer,"  in  the  early  days  of  January,  which  we  religiously 
observed  j  a  week  which,  I  regret  to  say,  has  largely  lost  its 
significance  in  most  churches. 

During  the  four  months  previous  to  the  Week  of  Prayer, 
after  the  re-gathering  of  the  church  when  the  summer  vaca- 
tion was  over,  my  aim  was  to  make  my  preaching  and  pastoral 
work  lead  up  to  that  week,  as  the  culminating  season  in  the 

77 


78  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

church  year.  Then  special  meetings  were  held  every  night, 
the  claims  of  Christ  for  an  immediate  decision  to  serve  Him 
were  urged,  an  opportunity  was  given  for  all  to  declare  them- 
selves, and  without  exception,  each  year  a  religious  awaken- 
ing was  the  result,  which  usually  brought  from  twenty  to  forty 
new  members,  most  of  them  young  people,  into  the  church. 

But  I  had  increasingly  felt  each  year  that  it  was  not  enough 
to  lead  them  to  declare  themselves  upon  Christ's  side,  and 
then  to  join  the  church.  Though  in  the  "Pastor's  Class"  I 
had  tried  faithfully  to  prepare  them  for  church  membership, 
I  still  felt  that  much  was  left  to  be  desired.  The  young 
Christians,  naturally  diffident  in  the  presence  of  their  elders, 
took  little  or  no  part  in  the  prayer  meetings  of  the  church, 
when  there  were  others  who  could  speak  and  pray  so  much 
more  fluently j  nor  were  they  prominent  in  its  social  and  be- 
nevolent activities,  when  overshadowed  by  others  of  more  ex- 
perience. 

The  great  task  which  confronted  Williston  Church,  as  it 
has  confronted  so  many  others,  was  how  to  give  these  young 
converts  duties  and  responsibilities,  suited  to  their  powers, 
that  would  train  and  develop  them  for  larger  duties  and  re- 
sponsibilities. Even  before  this  Williston  Church  had  not 
been  especially  lacking  in  resourcefulness  in  its  efforts  for  the 
young.  We  had  tried  the  debating  club,  and  the  musical 
society,  and  attractive  social  gatherings  had  been  frequent. 
The  minister's  wife  had  been  particularly  active  in  her  efforts 
to  interest  the  boys  and  girls  in  missionary  lore,  and  to  in- 
crease their  interest  and  their  contributions  for  the  missionary 
societies,  and  her  "  Mizpah  Circle  "  of  boys  and  girls  had  be- 
come one  of  the  most  important  features  of  the  church  life. 

Still  none  of  these  efforts  seemed  to  accomplish  the  desired 
result  of  training  up  a  company  of  devoted,  earnest  young 
people,  outspoken  among  their  companions  in  their  acknowl- 
edgement of  Christ's  claim  and  ready  to  work  for  Him  along 
all  practical  and  systematic  lines. 


BEGINNING    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR 


79 


All  such  efforts  us  1  have  described  for  training  in  debate, 
in  singing,  in  temperance,  and  missionary  zeal  failed,  not  be- 
cause they  were  not  good  in  themselves,  but  because  they  did 
not  go  far  enough  in  developing  an  all-round,  symmetrical 
Christian  character.  Because  of  this  defect  there  have  been  a 
multitucie  of  failures  in  young  people's  societies  of  various 
names  since  that  day,  and  I  doubt  very  much  whether  regalia 


The  Mizpah  Mission  Circle 

Of   Williston    Church,   of  which   Mrs.  Clark   was    superintendent.  This  Circle 

was    merged    into    the    first    Christian    Endeavor    society    when    it  was   formed. 

This  picture  was  taken  on  the  steps  of  Dr.  Clark's  first  home  in  Portland,  at 
42  Pine  Street. 

and  passwords  and  secret  formulas  which  the  rest  of  the  church 
are  not  supposed  to  know,  or  even  a  khaki  uniform,  would 
have  developed  these  young  Christians  of  Portland  into  stal- 
wart champions  of  the  church  which  most  of  them  became. 
This  is  not  saying  that  I  am  not  heartily  in  favor  of  the  Boy 
Scouts  and  similar  organizations,  but  something  more  is 
needed  in  a  church  for  training  young  Christians. 


8o 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 


The  second  of  February,  1881,  was  a  clear,  cold  day,  typical 
of  a  Maine  winter,  and  the  pastor's  wife  had  invited  the  boys 
and  girls  of  the  Mizpah  Circle  to  the  parsonage  on  Neal 
Street  for  the  afternoon,  providing  for  them,  besides  the  usual 
missionary  meeting,  plenty  of  games  and  a  supper,  of  which 
an  abundance  of  home-made  cookies  was  an  out-standing 
feature.     After    supper    the    younger    children    went    home. 


WiLLisTON  Parsonage  in  1881 

Parsonage  of  WilHston  Church,  Portland,  Me.  The  first  Christian  Endeavor 
society  was  formed  in  the  left-hand  front  corner  room  of  the  lower  floor,  and  there 
the  constitution  was  signed.  The  upper  left-hand  corner  front  room  was  the 
pastor's  study,  where  the  constitution  was  written  earlier  in  the  same  day,  Feb- 
ruary  2,   1 88 1. 

while  the  older  ones  were  joined  later  in  the  evening  by  their 
still  older  brothers  and  sisters,  until  a  company  of  fifty-eight 
had  gathered  in  the  parsonage  parlor. 

While  the  minister's  wife  had  been  making  cookies  in  the 
kitchen,  the  minister,  in  his  study  in  the  third  story,  had  been 
framing  a  constitution  for  the  Young  People's  society  which 
he  hoped  to  form  that  evening,  and  which  he  decided  to  call  the 


BEGINNING    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR  8  I 

"  Williston  Young  People's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor." 
This  society  was  different  from  others  that  he  had  started, 
chiefly  because  it  laid  the  greatest  stress  on  the  religious 
features.  It  was  to  be  an  out-and-out  Christian  society.  The 
pastor  had  become  tired  of  half-way  measures  for  training  his 
young  people,  and  while  he  doubted  the  efficacy  of  the  new 
plans,  he  decided  that  they  were  well  worth  trying. 

On  this  account  the  activities  of  the  new  society  were  to 
centre  around  the  weekly  young  people's  prayer  meeting, 
though  of  course  they  were  not  to  end  there.  In  order  to 
make  this  meeting  a  real  power  each  member  was  to  promise 
to  attend  and  take  some  part  in  it,  not  to  preach  a  little  sermon 
by  any  means,  or  to  deliver  a  Pauline  exhortation,  or  to  offer 
a  prayer  as  long  as  Solomon's.  "A  Bible  verse,  if  it  expressed 
his  thought,  was  to  answer  the  requirement  of  "  taking  some 
part  aside  from  singing,"  and  a  sentence  of  prayer,  which  might 
also  be  one  of  the  thousand  Bible  prayers,  would  fulfil  all 
requirements. 

There  was  naturally  some  hesitation  about  accepting  these 
stringent  rules,  but,  led  by  the  teacher  of  the  Young  Men's 
Bible  Class,  Mr.  W.  H.  Pennell,  all  the  young  people  present 
signed  the  new  constitution,  after  it  had  been  carefully  ex- 
plained, and  the  first  society  of  Christian  Endeavor  was 
launched  with  Mr.  Granville  Staples  as  its  first  president. 

It  made  no  stir,  however,  even  in  Williston  Church  circles. 
Nothing  was  said  about  it  in  the  morning  papers,  and  probably 
half  the  church  members  knew  nothing  about  it,  for  this  church 
had  a  fashion  which  might  be  commended  to  others,  of  letting 
their  pastor,  whom  they  trusted,  do  about  what  he  thought 
best  without  criticism,  but  with  much  encouragement  if  the  plan 
worked  out  well. 

The  immediate  transformation  of  the  young  people's  prayer 
meeting,  which  in  Williston  and  in  many  other  churches  had 
been  for  years  a  dead-and-alive  affair,  was  as  surprising  as  it 
was  gratifying.     The  new  members  did  as  they  had  promised. 


82 


MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 


Instead  of  a  few  of  the  older,  gray-haired  "  young  people  " 
(young  people  by  courtesy)  monopolizing  all  the  time,  the 
forty  or  fifty  members  of  the  new  society  all  took  their  part. 
The  pastor  had  only  to  sit  back  and  enjoy  the  meeting  as  a 
grateful  and  blessed  surprise,  summing  up  at  the  end,  perhaps, 
the  chief  lessons  that  had  been  brought  out. 

The  committees  that  had  been  provided  for  in  the  constitu- 
tion at  once  organized  for  service  3  the  lookout  committee  to 


Mr.  Granville  Staples 

First  President  of  the  first  society.    Still    in  active  business 
in  Portland,  Me. 

secure  new  members  and  to  make  sure  that  they  knew  what 
they  were  doing  when  they  joined  the  society;  the  prayer- 
meeting  committee  to  provide  topics  and  leaders  for  each  meet- 
ing, and  to  see  that  it  was  the  best  possible  meeting  that  they 
could  arrange  for;  the  social  committee  to  make  the  young 
people  thoroughly  acquainted  with  one  another,  and  the 
music  committee  to  turn  the  musical  abilities  of  the  society  to 
the  best  account.    Several  other  committees  were  soon  formed. 


BEGINNING    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR  83 

I  shall  not  go  into  particulars  or  relate  here  the  history  of 
the  Christian  Endeavor  movement,  since  that  has  already  been 
written  in  more  than  one  large  volume.  I  need  only  add  that 
the  society  was  an  increasing  joy  to  the  pastor,  and  an  ever- 
increasing  strength  to  the  church,  and  that,  though  half  a 
dozen  generations  of  young  people  have  since  come  and  gone, 
the  activities  of  the  Williston  society  have  never  been  inter- 
rupted. It  is  now  especially  prosperous  under  the  guidance  of 
its  popular  pastor,  Dr.  Turk. 

If  the  new  society  was  at  first  little  known  in  the  church  and 
community  of  Portland  it  can  well  be  imagined  that  it  was 
utterly  unknown  for  months  in  the  wider  church  circles  out- 
side of  the  city.  Articles,  however,  written  by  the  pastor  for 
The  C ongre gationaUst  and  The  Sunday  School  Times  in  the 
following  summer,  telling  how  one  church  sought  to  train  its 
young  people,  attracted  considerable  attention,  and  were  copied 
in  several  religious  papers  in  America  and  Great  Britain.  As 
a  result  the  second  society  was  started  in  the  North  Church 
of  Newburyport,  Mass.,  in  October,  1881,  by  the  enterprising 
young  pastor.  Rev.  Charles  Perry  Mills,  who,  by  the  way, 
was  an  inveterate  punster.  He  fastened  upon  me  in  these  early 
days,  as  a  pure  piece  of  facetiousness,  the  soubriquet  "  Father 
Endeavor,"  for  which  he  pretended  my  initials  stood.  This 
joke  was  taken  in  earnest  by  people  all  over  the  country  and 
has  led  many  whom  I  had  never  seen,  to  suppose,  for  many 
years  past,  that  I  am  only  slightly  under  a  hundred  years 
of  age. 

Before  the  end  of  1881  two  or  three  more  societies  of 
Christian  Endeavor  were  formed,  and  during  the  next  five 
years  they  multiplied,  slowly  at  first,  but  with  increasing 
momentum,  until  at  last  thousands  in  all  Protestant  denomina- 
tions, were  formed  every  year. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  surprising  development  of  the 
first  little  society  has  been  as  amazing  to  me  as  it  could  pos- 
sibly be  to  any  one  else.     No  such  design  or  dream  was  at 


84  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

first  entertained,  and  the  growth  of  the  movement  has  always 
been  a  source  of  genuine  humility  to  me  as  I  have  thought  how 
little  I  have  had  to  do  with  it,  and  how  purely  Providential 
the  work  has  been,  from  its  insignificant  beginning  to  its 
present  development  throughout  the  world. 

While  I  feel  profoundly  how  little  credit  I  deserve  for 
this  growth,  I  have  been  deeply  grateful  for  the  testimony 
that  has  come  literally  from  thousands  of  pastors,  mission- 
aries, and  lay  workers  that  their  first  impulse  to  give  them- 
selves to  religious  service,  and  the  first  realization  that  they 
could  actually  speak  and  pray  and  work  for  Christ  came  to 
them  in  a  Christian  Endeavor  prayer  meeting,  or  when  ap- 
pointed on  a  Christian  Endeavor  committee. 

At  the  same  time  many  amusing  incidents  concerning  my 
own  life  and  my  family  history,  of  which  I  was  totally  un- 
aware, have  come  to  me  from  many  sources.  Several  persons 
whom  I  have  never  met  have  ,written  me  that  they  knew  me 
well  as  a  boy.  At  least  a  score  of  people  have  told  me  that 
they  have  heard  me  preach  in  some  place  that  I  have  never 
visited,  or  that  I  was  pastor  of  some  church  of  which  I  had 
never  heard.  Several  scores  have  informed  me  that  they  had 
Christian  Endeavor  societies  long  before  1881.  To  be  sure 
they  were  not  called  "  Christian  Endeavor,"  nor  did  they 
have  the  distinctive  features  or  constitution  of  the  society, 
but  then  "  they  were  practically  Christian  Endeavor  societies." 
The  printed  report  of  an  ecclesiastical  conference  of  a  de- 
nomination other  than  my  own  even  gave  a  circumstantial  ac- 
count of  how  I  had  said  at  a  public  meeting,  "  Gentlemen 
and  ladies,  I  am  not  the  founder  of  the  society  of  Christian 
Endeavor.  That  honor  belongs  to  one  of  your  own  ministers. 
Rev. to  whom  I  am  glad  to  make  this  acknowl- 
edgment even  at  this  late  day."  Since,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  I 
had  never  spoken  at  the  meeting  referred  to,  and  had  never 
heard  of  the  good  brother  alluded  to,  I  have  often  wondered 
at  the  vivid  imagination  of  the  scribe  who  made  up  this  report. 


BEGINNING    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR  85 

As  a  matter  of  fact  the  rapid  growth  of  the  society  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at,  for  tens  of  thousands  of  pastors  were  think- 
ing along  the  same  lines  and  desiring  the  same  results,  and  were 
eager  to  adopt  any  plan  that  promised  well,  without  any  itching 
desire  for  originality  or  notoriety. 

cJia.^fU^     c/^*<  t^c^ot-^  .^iA«./<   ^  Ce^X(u^  t^    VKi^UM^rri^  Q^i^tl^tu^  Ux-r^%£L^  fefViM-i-^  t^ 

/v^4^/^,,*^v-vcn^ia-^V^>^?C^<,'<^^'n-v(.<^ZtA.Z^,<i^^>^<l-<,-**^c«v*'<-tf^^  vA'Vt  «s/.^  ■v^i^ti^'it^  -^ti^.t^-ti*'  '^^tyt'O-tC- 

frZey-r^  (rOt-^Ay^-^   '7]^Z^-»n^-v*<'1^Sv<>-    ot'  "t^U-t^  (/trCy<-eZ^   '^i^OyCC    Sir-t^'^'y'^^  or     tt-OC     u^r-'-^y^y•^  -^C«*-- 
■^■K^CC  VOc^tr-ry^.^  ^irCty>■>'^,'^c^^<y^■*^''(^^^  e£t,e^Q^ ■Oi^'C^^Z.  ■<Hrt.<.-iyiH.    **t<»^  ^^ '*'^-»<-»-**^ 

ifLiU<  ,ff^^fc<^v4<  7^  d..i.di2^  ^  i^  ^^iU^Uc*t/^^    Viet,  fi/H^^^e^u^  ay^W ^^i^y\.o^Z.t^  ^,£^ 

*</-*^^  ,<^  -4i/Uyl.^yui.*' iiyC~£y.^r^-yiy^  wt.^^i-'t^^^'VA  .t^ytytyCc^Afy  iieyC^y^*x^>/-^-j,  ^eo-y**^   <».^<-<£<-<fe 
ItCyC-iy^^ti^yi^  <t-K-V'    ti^^iy/  .^tt^cti  irv%^  .ttr-t^OC    iTL^^i.^  -ircfi^  ^»yt^  ^,rvtfCe^<-^  ,^iUaJi£- 

^1^    t/Cra.^     -a-<r>vi-^  cZ'^'t^L^  ti^  ac^ 'VC'    CiyyS^i^/ ■jLfft'  yty*<ylX^-iU^c^^^i-*<yC^ a^i't^ ^4^C^  ^^ 

Original  Copy  of  the  Constitution 

Accepted  by  the  first  society  of  Christian  Endeavor,    Williston  Church, 

Portland,  Me. 

Thousands  of  young  people's  prayer  meetings  were  already 
in  existence  and  thousands  more  young  people's  societies  of 
various  kinds,  were  readily  transformed  into  Christian  En- 
deavor societies  when  its  methods  became  known  and  the 
spiritual  capacities  of  young  people  were  fully  realized. 

Of  course  there  was  opposition,  as  there  always  must  be  to 
a  new  idea,  and  some  conferences  and  some  newspapers 
teemed  with  such  expressions  as  "  The  society  for  the  develop- 
ment of  young  prigs,"  "  an  organization  for  the  growth  of 


86  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN     MANY    LANDS 

hot-house  green  peas,"  etc.,  while  some  contended  that 
Christian  Endeavor  stood  only  for  "  Courting  Endeavor." 
Other  jibes  of  this  character  ,were  not  infrequent,  but  they  be- 
came less  and  less  common,  as  the  churches  came  to  see  that 
the  societies  were  made  up  for  the  most  part  of  devoted  young 
Christians  who  were  growing  in  grace  from  week  to  week, 
and  were  developing  constantly  the  finer  traits  of  active 
Christian  character  and  life. 

All  the  denominations  at  first  seemed  to  accept  the  society 
as  their  common  denominator,  and  it  was  not  until  nearly  eight 
years  had  passed  that  the  bishops  of  the  great  Methodist 
Episcopal  denomination  proclaimed  that  their  young  people 
must  have  a  denominational  society  of  their  own,  with  a  de- 
nominational name,  that  the  two  thousand  Christian  Endeavor 
societies  in  their  churches  must  be  changed  into  "  Epworth 
Leagues,"  and  must  withdraw  from  the  fellowship  of  the 
Christian  Endeavor  unions  which  had  sprung  up  all  over  the 
land.  This  they  gradually  did,  greatly  to  the  grief  of  many 
pastors  and  a  multitude  of  Methodist  young  people. 

Several  denominations  at  once  followed  the  lead  of  their 
Methodist  brethren  in  forming  distinctively  denominational 
societies,  and  it  looked  at  first  as  though  this  movement  which 
had  already  brought  together  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
young  Christians  in  friendly  interdenominational  fellowship, 
while  at  the  same  time  they  were  thoroughly  loyal  to  their 
own  churches  and  denominations,  would  be  frustrated.  But 
the  interdenominational  fellowship  finally  prevailed  except 
in  the  great  ecclesiastical  body  already  referred  to.  Many 
of  the  denominational  young  people^s  organizations  were 
changed  to  Christian  Endeavor  societies.  The  unions,  State, 
county,  and  local,  grew  constantly  stronger,  representing  as 
they  now  do,  more  than  fifty  denominations  in  the  United  States 
alone,  while  the  society  as  a  whole,  and  in  all  parts  of  the 
world,  has  grown  steadily  in  numbers  and  influence  .with  each 
succeeding  year. 


BEGINNING    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR  87 

The  seven  years  of  my  pastorate  at  Williston,  though  as 
happy  as  any  one  could  desire,  did  not  pass  without  tempta- 
tions to  go  elsewhere  at  a  larger  salary  and  to  what  seemed  at 
the  time  more  commanding  pulpits.  During  the  early  months 
of  my  pastorate  the  North  Avenue  Church  of  Cambridge  ex- 
tended a  call  which  I  was  at  first  minded  to  accept,  but  the 
claims  of  my  own  struggling  church  prevailed,  as  they  did  in 
later  years  when  calls,  or  negotiations  which  I  was  told  would 
if  I  consented,  result  in  calls,  came  from  churches  in  Man- 
chester and  Concord,  N.  H.,  Brockton,  Mass.,  Auburn,  Me., 
and  other  places. 

An  invitation  in  the  early  months  of  my  pastorate  to  be- 
come one  of  the  editors  of  The  Congregationalist  was  also 
very  attractive,  as  it  was  in  line  with  my  strong  inclinations  in 
college  and  seminary  days,  but  again  the  needs  of  Williston 
Church  seemed  to  forbid.  But  when,  in  1883,  a  hearty  and 
unanimous  call  came  from  Phillips  Church,  South  Boston,  I 
felt  that  Williston  was  so  thoroughly  established,  its  member- 
ship so  large  and  aggressive,  and  its  place  in  the  community 
so  well  recognized  that  someone  else  could  carry  on  its  work 
to  a  larger  success  than  I  might  be  able  to  do. 

So,  with  many  sad  and  affectionate  farewells,  and  sub- 
stantial tokens  of  the  love  of  our  people  for  both  Mrs.  Clark 
and  myself,  my  request  for  a  council  of  dismission  was  ac- 
ceded to,  and  I  was  released  from  my  obligations  to  Williston 
Church  and  almost  immediately  was  installed  pastor  of  the 
historic  Phillips  Church  of  South  Boston. 

During  these  seven  years  my  salary  had  been  gradually 
raised  by  a  generous  people,  as  their  prosperity,  increased, 
from  $1,800  to  $2,500  and  though  there  was  much  sorrow  on 
both  sides  at  the  separation,  there  were,  so  far  as  I  remember, 
no  heart  burnings,  and  none  but  happy  memories  of  the  seven 
years  we  had  spent  together  as  pastor  and  people. 


Chapter    IX 

Years     1883-1887 

IN    SOUTH    BOSTON 

AN       UNUSUAL       INSTALLATION  SOUTH        BOSTON       IN       THE 

EIGHTIES A   GENEROyS    CHURCH  PHILLIPS    CHURCH 

SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR THE    GOLDEN    RULE 

FAREWELL   TO    THE    PASTORATE. 

HILLIPS  CHURCH  was  of  a  very  dif- 
ferent type  from  Williston.  It  had  a 
notable  history  of  sixty  years  behind  it,  and 
a  line  of  distinguished  ministers  to  whom  the 
people  looked  back  with  reverence  and  love. 
It  was  the  leading  Protestant  Church  on  the 
peninsula  of  South  Boston,  both  in  numbers  and  influence. 
Its  audience-room  was  one  of  the  largest  in  the  whole  city, 
and  had  recently  been  renovated  and  decorated  at  large 
expense. 

It  was  not  without  some  misgivings  that  I  became  the  suc- 
cessor of  Rev.  R.  R.  Meredith,  D.D.,  famous  in  those  days 
and  for  many  years  afterwards  for  his  pulpit  oratory  and  for 
his  gift  in  teaching  great  normal  Sunday-school  classes,  for  I 
felt  that  I  could  not  equal  him  in  either  of  these  respects. 

However,  I  soon  found  that  again  my  lines  had  fallen  unto 
me  in  pleasant  places,  and  no  pastor  could  ever  wish  a  more 
loyal,  devoted,  and  affectionate  people  than  made  my  lot  a 
happy  one  during  the  nearly  five  years  of  my  ministry  in  South 
Boston. 

An  unusual  event  occurred  at  the  very  beginning  of  my 
pastorate,  for  the  same  council  that  dismissed  Dr.  Meredith,  on 

88 


Rev.  S.  Winchester  Adriance 

First  General  Secretary 

Oct.  14-Dec.  I,  1885 


George  M.  Ward,  D.D. 

General  Secretary 

1885-1888 


John  Willis  Baer,  LL.D. 

General  Secretary 

1890-1903 


William  Shaw,  LL.D. 

Publication  Manager,  1889-1899 

Treasurer,  1886-1906 

General  Secretary,  1906-1920 


Von  Ogden  Vogt 

General  Secretary 

1903-1906 


Clarence  E.  Eberman 

National  Field  Secretary 
1901-1903 


Hiram  N.  Lathrop 
Treasurer,  IQ07-1915 


Former  Officers 
United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor 


IN    SOUTH    BOSTON  9 1 

the  same  afternoon  and  evening  examined  and  installed  me 
as  his  successor,  a  celerity  of  ecclesiastical  procedure  which  I 
have  never  known  equalled. 

But  Dr.  Meredith  had  co-operated  with  the  church  in  the 
choice  of  his  successor,  and  it  was  his  desire  that  the  double 
service  should  take  place  on  the  same  day.  This  Boanerges  of 
the  pulpit,  with  his  massive,  lion-like  head  and  tremendous 
voice,  had  attracted  large  congregations  to  Phillips  Church, 
which,  however,  did  not  perceptibly  fall  away  as  I  feared  they 
might,  for  the  loyalty  of  the  people  to  the  church  of  their 
choice  was  unusual,  and  in  this  they  had  been  trained  by  the 
very  successful  seventeen-year  pastorate  of  Dr.  E.  K.  Alden, 
afterward  the  home  secretary  of  the  American  Board,  who  had 
preceded  Dr.  Meredith,  I  saw  at  once  that  more  pastoral  work 
was  needed,  and  that  more  attention  should  be  given  to  train- 
ing the  young  people  of  the  church,  as  indeed  I  had  been  re- 
peatedly told  by  my  predecessor j  and,  putting  time  and 
strength  and  heart  into  these  congenial  tasks,  as  well  as  into 
pulpit  preparation,  the  church,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  seemed 
to  prosper,  and  an  average  of  more  than  one  hundred  each 
year  was  added  to  its  membership. 

Though  the  exodus  from  South  Boston  to  the  suburbs  had 
already  begun,  and  the  influx  of  Irish  Catholics  was  increasing 
year  by  year,  yet  many  of  the  old  families  were  still  left,  and 
the  officials  of  the  church  were  especially  prominent  in  the 
social,  industrial,  and  philanthropic  life  of  the  community. 
I  shall  never  cease  to  love  and  reverence  the  memories  of 
Deacons  Simonds  and  Burnham,  who  so  completely  took  their 
young  minister  into  their  hearts'  love,  while  the  two  Junior 
deacons,  Messrs.  Gallagher  and  Lincoln,  eminent  educators 
and  graduates  of  Harvard,  were  as  loyal  and  efficient  as  deacons 
could  be. 

The  prayer  meetings  of  Phillips  Church  were  famous  during 
all  these  years  for  their  numbers  and  their  genuine  spiritual 
power,  and  during  the  Week  of  Prayer  they  often  overflowed 


92  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

the  large  vestry,  crowding  the  wide  platform,  as  well  as  filling 
every  seat  upon  the  floor.  The  same  plans  of  preaching  and 
evangelistic  effort  were  followed  as  in  Williston  Church  and 
were  rewarded  each  year  in  early  January  by  a  genuine  religious 
awakening  and  the  conversion  of  many  young  people  and 
others. 

After  a  few  weeks,  as  can  be  imagined,  a  Christian  Endeavor 
society  was  formed,  and  became  even  more  of  a  power  in 
Phillips  Church  than  the  first  organization  was  in  Williston. 
There  were  many  more  young  people  to  be  reached,  and  an 
unusual  corps  of  efficient  leaders  was  soon  raised  up.  Among 
these  was  William  Shaw,  the  first  president  of  the  society,  a 
young  man  of  much  executive  ability,  as  well  as  of  much  readi- 
ness and  cogency  of  speech.  He  was  then  employed  as  sales- 
man in  a  carpet  store  in  Boston,  and  had  recently  graduated 
from  "  The  School  of  Hard  Knocks  "  in  a  cotton  factory  in 
Ballardvale.  By  a  singular  coincidence,  he  had  been  a  pupil 
of  Mrs.  Clark's  when  she  taught  a  grammar  school  in  that 
village  just  after  her  graduation  from  Abbott  Academy. 

Mr.  Shaw  at  once  became  my  chief  lieutenant  for  work 
among  the  young  people,  and  when,  a  few  years  later,  the 
United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  was  formed,  and  The 
Golden  Rule  was  purchased,  he  became,  step  by  step,  the  ad- 
vertising solicitor  for  the  paper,  the  business  manager  of  the 
United  Society,  treasurer  of  the  same,  and  finally  general 
secretary.  He  is  no,w  a  Doctor  of  Laws,  that  honor  having 
been  conferred  upon  him  by  Occidental  College  of  California, 
whose  successful  president  for  ten  years  was  John  Willis  Baer, 
Dr.  Shaw's  predecessor  as  secretary  of  the  United  Society. 

Other  young  men  and  women  were  scarcely  less  efiicient 
than  Mr.  Shaw,  and  the  Christian  Endeavor  society  of  Phillips 
Church  flourished  apace.  It  became  so  large  that  though  the 
society  met  as  a  whole  once  a  week,  the  different  divisions  also 
had  their  weekly  meetings  for  prayer  and  conference.  These 
divisions  were  called  the  Christian  Bands  of  the  society,  and  as 


IN    SOUTH    BOSTON 


93 

far  as  possible,  I  met  with  them  all  every  week,  which  gave  me 
an  opportunity  to  obtain  a  personal  insight  into  the  spiritual 
needs  and  aspirations  of  each  member. 

To  return  to  family  affairs  j  we  had  brought  with  us  from 


William  Shaw 
When  he  entered  upon  his  Christian  Endeavor  career  in   1883. 

Portland  two  small  children,  Maude  Williston,  four  and  a  half 
years  old,  and  Eugene  Francis,  three  years  old. 


94  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Soon  after  reaching  South  Boston,  "  Faith  Phillips,"  who 
lived  but  little  over  a  month,  .was  born,  and  the  devoted  kind- 
ness of  the  people  in  our  affliction  endeared  them  to  us  still 
more. 

A  serious  breakdown  in  health  in  the  first  year  of  my  pastor- 
ate proved  even  more  conclusively  the  love  and  generosity 
of  the  people  of  our  new  church,  for  they  insisted  on  sending 
me  to  Florida  at  their  expense  during  the  winter,  and  as  that 
trip  seemed  to  accomplish  little  good,  they  again  insisted  on 
three  months'  vacation,  before  the  first  year  of  my  pastorate 
was  over,  and  on  a  trip  to  Europe  with  my  wife,  a  trip  whose 
expenses  they  also  paid. 

There  was  nothing  specially  memorable  about  this  journey, 
which  took  us  over  the  beaten  paths  of  the  ordinary  tourist, 
through  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  Belgium,  Holland, 
Switzerland,  and  France.  It  effectually  restored  my  health, 
however,  and  of  course  it  was  a  great  event  in  our  lives,  as  the 
first  trip  abroad  always  is  to  Americans,  who  have  been  fed 
from  their  childhood  on  the  history  and  tales  and  legends  of 
the  Old  World. 

During  these  years  in  South  Boston  I  preached  three  series 
of  sermons  to  young  people,  based,  in  part,  upon  letters  that 
I  had  solicited  from  prominent  Christian  business  men  and 
others  concerning  true  success  in  life.  One  of  these  series 
had  also  been  preached  in  Portland,  and  was  published  serially 
in  Wide  Awake,  a  popular  magazine  for  young  people,  and 
afterwards  in  book  form.  Two  others  series  preached  in 
Boston  to  large  evening  congregations  were  also  published  by 
"  Lee  and  Shepard  "  and  by  "  Lothrop  "  during  my  Boston 
pastorate.  One  of  these,  meant  especially  for  boys  and  young 
men,  was  called,  "  Danger  Signals,"  and  one  particularly 
intended  for  girls  and  young  women  was  entitled,  "  Looking 
out  on  Life." 

I  recollect,  too,  that  the  gifted  wife  of  Cyrus  K.  Curtis, 
publisher  of  The  Ladies^  Home  Journal,  had  been  a  member 


IN    SOUTH     BOSTON  95 

of  Phillips  Church,  and  at  her  solicitation,  several  of  my  ser- 
mons were  publisheci  in  that  magazine,  which  had  not  then 
attained  its  country-wide  popularity  and  the  enormous  cir- 
culation of  the  present  day.  It  will  probably  excite  a  smile, 
if  not  something  broader,  to  think  of  The  Ladies^  Home 
Journal  publishing  a  series  of  sermons  for  the  delectation  of 
its  readers. 

Especially  during  the  years  of  1886-87  the  number  of 
Christian  Endeavor  societies  increased  at  a  remarkable  rate. 
Local  unions  began  to  be  formed  in  many  cities.  State 
Christian  Endeavor  unions  were  talked  of  and  actually  in- 
augurated. The  Massachusetts  State  union  was  formed  in 
Phillips  Church  one  cold  wintry  day  when  a  snow  blockade 
prevented  a  large  attendance,  but  did  not  interfere  with  the 
organization. 

In  the  meantime,  in  the  summer  of  1885,  the  United  Society 
of  Christian  Endeavor,  the  international  organization  for  all 
America,  was  formed  at  Ocean  Park,  near  Old  Orchard,  on 
the  coast  of  Maine,  where  the  convention  of  1885  had  been 
held. 

From  the  beginning  the  conventions  of  the  society,  though 
small  at  first,  had  been  remarkable  for  their  enthusiasm,  and 
for  engaging  the  genuine  interest  of  the  young  people.  The 
first  one  was  held  in  Williston  Church  in  the  summer  of  1882, 
less  than  eighteen  months  after  the  formation  of  the  first 
society;  the  second  in  the  Second  Parish  Church  of  Portland, 
of  which  my  dear  friend.  Rev.  Charles  A.  Dickinson,  D.D., 
was  pastor;  the  third  in  1884  in  Kirk  Street  Church  of 
Lowell,  to  which  Dr.  Dickinson  had  gone  in  the  meantime; 
and  the  fourth,  the  most  significant  of  all,  at  Ocean  Park,  as 
I  have  already  said.  Here  were  gathered  several  young 
pastors  who  afterwards  became  especially  prominent  in  the 
work;  Rev.  Howard  B.  Grose  of  the  Baptist  Church,  Rev. 
Ralph  Brokaw  of  the  Dutch  Reformed,  Revs.  Nehemiah 
Boynton   and   James   L.    Hill,    Congregationalists.     Of    this 


96 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 


quartette,  Drs.  Grose,  Brokaw,  and  Hill  have  remained 
Trustees  of  the  United  Society  and  the  steadfast  friends  and 
advocates  of  the  movement  to  the  present  day.     Dr.  Grose 


George  B.  Graff 

For  a  number  of  years  the  successful  publication  manager  of  the  United 
Society  of  Christian  Endeavor.  Mr.  Graff  was  a  charter  member  of  the  first 
Christian  Endeavor  society  formed  west  of  the  Mississippi  River  —  the  Pilgrim 
Congregational  Society  of  St.  Louis  —  and  was  the  first  delegate  from  the  West 
to  a  Christian  Endeavor  national  convention,  the  fourth,  held  at  Ocean  Park,  Me. 
His  pastor,  the  eminent  Dr.  Goodell,  wrote  the  introduction  to  Dr.  Clark's  first 
Christian  Endeavor  book,  entitled,  "The  Children  and  the  Church." 


IN    SOUTH    BOSTON  "  97 

has  also  beea  for  many  years,  the  Vice-President  of  the  United 
Society  and  a  valued  helper  on  many  important  occasions. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Van  Patten,  afterwards  mayor  of  Burlington, 
Vt.,  and  one  of  the  first  friends  of  the  society,  was  elected 
president  of  the  new  national  organization.  He  it  was  who 
had  printed  at  his  own  expense  a  large  edition  of  my  first 
little  book  about  Christian  Endeavor,  entitled  "  The  Children 
and  the  Church,"  some  two  thousand  copies  of  which  he  dis- 
tributed gratis,  at  the  same  time  putting  paid  advertisements 
in  many  papers,  offering  free  information  concerning  the 
principles  of  the  society  to  any  who  would  apply.  He  was  a 
rarely  sympathetic  man,  gifted  in  the  conduct  of  meetings, 
having  had  much  experience  in  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work,  and  the 
society  owes  much  to  his  early  friendship. 

It  can  be  imagined  that  my  correspondence  concerning  the 
society  had  increased  rapidly  during  these  years.  Letters 
were  beginning  to  come  from  far  away  India'  and  China,  telling 
of  the  success  of  the  experiment  in  these  mission  lands.  The 
demands  upon  my  time  as  speaker  at  many  conventions  and 
local-union  meetings,  and  in  churches  that  desired  to  form 
societies,  also  greatly  increased,  and  I  began  to  feel  that  I 
could  no  longer  support  the  heavy  burden  of  my  pastorate 
and  at  the  same  time  be  an  exponent  of  Christian  Endeavor 
principles  and  plans. 

In  the  meanwhile  my  friends,  Charles  A.  Dickinson  and 
James  L.  Hill,  and  myself,  had  been  able  to  borrow  enough 
money  at  a  bank  in  Lowell  on  our  individual  notes  to  pur- 
chase the  almost  defunct  Golden  Rule  which,  financially  con- 
sidered, had  been  going  from  bad  to  worse  since  Rev,  W.  H. 
H.  Murray's  collapse.  It  had  for  some  time  given  a  column 
or  two  to  Christian  Endeavor  news,  and  had  frequently  pub- 
lished my  sermons,  but  we  felt  the  necessity  of  an  organ  es- 
pecially devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  society,  and,  supposing 
that  the  paper  had  several  thousand  subscribers,  hard  cash  was 
paid  for  it.     We  soon  found  that  many  of  the  subscribers  whose 


98  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

names  appeared  upon  its  list  were  "  deadheads,"  and  for  a 
time  we  greatly  regretted  that  we  had  not  started  our 
Christian  Endeavor  paper  de  novo. 

Of  this  journal,  whose  name  some  years  afterwards  was 
changed  to  The  Christian  Endeavor  World y  I  was  chosen 
editor-in-chief,  and  my  companions  in  the  ownership  associate 
editors.  For  a  long  time  before  purchasing  the  paper,  thus 
risking  our  little  all,  we  had  tried  to  persuade  some  benevolent 
people  of  large  means  to  contribute  enough  money  to  enable 
the  United  Society  to  own  the  paper,  but,  being  unsuccessful 
in  this,  we  decided  that  there  was  nothing  else  to  do  but  to  be- 
come responsible  ourselves  for  the  risky  enterprise. 

At  first  it  was  a  hard  struggle  to  make  both  ends  meet,  but, 
gradually  the  paper  gathered  headway,  and  finally  it  attained 
a  circulation  of  nearly  a  hundred  thousand  copies  a  week. 
The  owners  felt  that  they  held  it  in  trust  for  the  United 
Society,  to  which  they  agreed  it  was  eventually  to  belong,  and 
that  the  proceeds  should  be  used  largely  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Christian  Endeavor  cause.  My  share  of  these  proceeds  to- 
gether with  what  I  have  been  able  to  earn  with  my  pen  in 
other  ways  has  enabled  me  to  take  during  the  last  thirty  years 
some  nineteen  journeys  to  distant  lands,  five  of  them  en- 
circling the  globe.  I  no  longer  have  any  financial  interest  in 
the  paper,  having  sold  my  life  interest  for  a  small  sum  to 
Dr.  Shaw,  the  present  publisher,  in  191 1. 

With  these  many  new  duties  pressing  upon  me  I  felt  that 
sooner  or  later  I  must  resign  the  pastorate  of  Phillips  Church. 
This  I  did  after  about  four  years,  though  I  remained  with  the 
church  for  nearly  another  year,  as  stated  supply,  either  preach- 
ing myself,  or  exchanging  with  brother  ministers.  To  the 
very  end  I  cherished  nothing  but  love  and  respect  for  the  good 
people,  which  I  have  reason  to  believe  was  returned  in  some 
measure,  and  which  my  wife,  who  had  developed  unusual 
powers  as  an  "  assistant  pastor,"  shared  to  a  larger  extent 
than  I. 


Chapter    X 
Years     1888-1891 

TRAVELLING    DAYS    BEGIN 

MY     FIRST     FOREIGN     CHRISTIAN     ENDEAVOR     JOURNEY THE 

KINDLY    SUNDAY-SCHOOL     UNION AN     OBJECTION     AN- 
SWERED   WILLIAM           E.           GLADSTONE  AUBURNDALE 

AGAIN. 

HE  last  line  of  the  old  hymn  which  reminds 
us  that  we  must  continue  our  work  "  till 
travelling  days  are  done  "  I  have  always 
felt  might  have  a  special  application  to 
myself,  though,  as  I  write  these  words,  the 
days  are  apparently  not  quite  "  done,"  for 
I  am  revising  this  chapter  in  a  modest  hotel  in  Paris,  while  I 
am  planning  for  another  long  journey  to  the  new  republics  of 
Europe. 

Whenever  these  travelling  days  may  be  done,  they  were 
practically  begun  in  the  year  1888.  I  had  reluctantly  severed 
my  connection  with  Phillips  Church,  but  was  still  living  in 
South  Boston,  supplying  the  pulpit  of  my  old  church,  when 
an  invitation  came  to  me  from  the  directors  of  the  British 
Sunday-School  Union  in  London  to  attend  the  "  May  Meet- 
ings "  of  the  union  and  tell  its  members  something  about 
the  new  organization  entitled  "  Christian  Endeavor,"  which 
was  beginning  to  be  known  in  the  United  Kingdom. 

It  is  true  that  my  wife  and  I  had  made  a  portion  of  the 
"Grand  Tour"  of  Europe  previously,  but  the  journey  had 
been  for  health  and  sight-seeing  alone,  the  only  journey  of  that 
sort  which  I  have  ever  undertaken.     On  that  occasion  we  made 

99 


lOO  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

few  acquaintances,  and  I  made  no  public  addresses.  The  trip 
in  1888,  was  a  very  brief  one,  only  for  the  work  I  had  been 
asked  to  do,  and  I  scarcely  went  outside  of  London,  and  re- 
turned home  as  soon  as  the  May  Meetings  were  over. 

It  began  rather  inauspiciously,  for  I  found,  when  the  old 
"  Cephalonia  "  was  sailing  out  of  Boston  harbor,  that  my  trunk, 
with  all  the  worldly  belongings  that  I  expected  to  take  with 
me,  barring  the  clothes  in  which  I  stood,  was  left  behind  upon 
the  wharf,  though  I  had  been  assured  by  the  ship's  officials 
that  it  was  safe  on  board.  Even  my  tooth-brush  and  razor 
were  left  in  America,  for  I  had  put  my  hand-bag  in  the  trunk, 
and  I  was  stranded  with  only  a  "  top  hat,"  which  was  more  in 
vogue  as  head-gear  in  those  days  than  now,  without  even 
a  steamer  cap  to  meet  the  gales  of  the  Atlantic.  However, 
the  barber  was  able  to  supply  me  with  a  tooth-brush  and  a  paper 
collar  which  admitted  of  being  turned,  and  my  fellow  passen- 
gers, taking  pity  upon  me,  supplied  one  or  two  other  necessary 
articles,  until  I  was  able  to  replenish  my  wardrobe  and  toilet 
case  at  Liverpool.  My  trunk  followed  me  on  the  next  steamer, 
and  I  received  it  on  my  return  to  Liverpool  just  in  time  to 
bring  it  home  with  me,  its  contents  quite  undisturbed. 

The  only  distinguished  passengers  on  this  ship  were  James 
Russell  Lowell  and  some  members  of  his  family,  but  being 
shy,  I  did  not  attempt  to  scrape  an  acquaintance  with  the  great 
author  and  diplomatist.  Chance  brought  us  together,  however, 
at  the  same  table  in  the  Northwestern  Hotel  in  Liverpool, 
soon  after  we  landed.  When  I  ventured  to  remark  that  it  was 
a  fine  hotel,  he  rather  squelched  my  advances,  by  declaring 
"There  are  no  decent  hotels  left  in  Liverpool."  Possibly 
*  his  steak  was  tough,  or  his  coffee  muddy,  for  I  have  an  im- 
pression that  usually  he  was  one  of  the  most  genial  of  men. 

I  reached  London  early  in  the  morning  after  our  steamer 
docked  in  Liverpool,  having  travelled  all  night  by  rail,  and 
had  hardly  time  to  draw  a  long  breath  before  I  was  ushered 
into  the  council  room  of  the  Sunday-School  Union  at  S^  Old 


TRAVELLING    DAYS    BEGIN  lOI 

Bailey,  and  was  expected  to  tell  my  British  brethren  some- 
thing of  the  ins  and  outs  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  move- 
ment, and  how  the  society  might  help  to  stop  the  leak  between 
the  Sunday-school  and  the  church,  a  problem  which  greatly 
perplexed  them  at  that  time. 

The  reception  they  gave  me  was  kindly,  but  not  particularly 
cordial,  for  the  society  did  not  at  once  commend  itself  to 
conservative  Britishers,  ,who  very  likely  said  to  themselves, 
as  did  the  conservative  Peter,  when  told  in  the  vision  to  arise 
and  eat  of  the  ceremonially  unclean  things  in  the  sheet  let 
down  from  heaven,  "  Not  so.  Lord,  for  I  never  have." 

However,  a  beginning  was  made,  and  the  Sunday-School 
Union  decided  to  take  the  society  under  its  fostering  care. 
Soon  the  prejudices  largely  disappeared,  and  the  societies 
multiplied  almost  as  rapidly  as  they  had  in  America,  until 
London  became  one  of  the  largest  Christian  Endeavor  centres 
in  the  world.     It  has  now  about  five  hundred  societies. 

I  was  asked  to  speak  at  other  meetings  during  the  next  week 
or  two,  either  public  meetings  of  the  Sunday-School  Union 
or  of  the  Congregational  Mission  Boards.  At  one  of  the  latter, 
where  only  a  committee  of  ministers  was  present,  many  objec- 
tions were  raised  to  the  new  plan,  especially  to  the  pledge 
which  required  the  members  to  attend  and  take  some  part  in 
each  meeting,  unless,  for  not  doing  so,  some  conscientious  rea- 
son existed. 

One  of  my  auditors,  who  has  since  become  a  very  good 
friend  and  advocate  of  the  movement,  declared  that  he  would 
as  soon  think  of  asking  his  young  people  to  fledge  themselves 
to  play  lawn  tennis  as  to  go  to  a  prayer  meeting.  An  honored 
American  missionary.  Dr.  Tracy  of  Turkey,  who  happened  to 
be  present,  came  to  my  rescue  by  saying  that  in  his  opinion,  the 
churches  of  Great  Britain  as  well  as  those  in  other  parts  of  the 
world,  had  "  too  much  lawn  tennis  and  too  little  prayer  meet- 
ing "j  that  they  did  too  much  to  amuse  the  young  people, 
thus  cajoling  them  into  becoming  church  members,  and  too 


102  MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN     IN    MANY    LANDS 

little  to  develop  an  outspoken  and  active  Christian  life.  After 
he  was  through  I  did  not  feel  the  necessity  of  giving  any 
further  answer  to  that  objection. 

On  this  visit  to  England,  if  I  remember  rightly,  I  was  asked 
to  speak  at  a  young  people's  meeting  in  the   City  Temple, 
the  most  noted  Free  Church  edifice  in  the  United  Kingdom, 
where  I  have  several  times  since  addressed  similar  gatherings. 
Joseph  Parker  was  then  the  famous  pastor  of  City  Temple 
and  presided  over  the  meeting.     He  had  recently  returned 
from  a  rather  unfortunate  visit  to  America,  where  he  had  gone 
to  deliver  a  eulogy  on  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  but  did  not  alto- 
gether succeed  in  pleasing  his  American  audiences  on  that  and 
other  occasions.     I  felt  that  my  effort  in  the  City  Temple  was 
not  far  from  being  a  failure,  for  I  had  tired  myself  out  with 
sight-seeing  during  the  early  part  of  the  day,  and  was  naturally 
apprehensive  upon  appearing  before  my  first  large  British  au- 
dience, an  audience  which  filled  the  Temple.     Dr.   Parker, 
however,  praised  my  effort  in  glowing  and  unstinted  terms, 
and,  had  1  not  known  better,  and  had  I  not  been  conscious  of 
comparative  failure,  I  should  have  supposed  it  was  the  great- 
est address  ever  made  in  his  church.    At  the  same  time  he  took 
occasion  to  praise  Americans  in  extravagant  terms  and  to  tell 
how  fond  he  was  of  them  and  they  of  him,  so  that  I  more 
than  suspected  that  he  used  the  occasion  of  my  presence  to 
square  himself  with  the  congregation  as  to  his  American  visit, 
and  to  counteract  some  prejudicial  reports  of  it  that  had  ap- 
peared in  the  London  papers. 

On  the  whole  I  think  that  Joseph  Parker  was  the  greatest 
preacher  of  his  time.  I  heard  him  a  number  of  times  on  other 
visits  to  London,  and  he  always  impressed  me  with  the  cogency 
and  originality  of  his  thought,  his  dramatic  powers,  and  his 
tremendous  oratorical  abilities,  which  allowed  him  to  play  upon 
the  sympathies  and  emotions  of  his  hearers,  as  a  skilful  musi- 
cian upon  the  strings  of  a  harp.  Other  memories,  more  char- 
acteristic of  the  man,  I  must  reserve  for  another  chapter. 


o 
o 

'70 


CO 

> 
k; 
O 

a 
o 

> 


o 


> 

c:; 

2; 
D 
> 
t-' 

M 


> 

GO 
GO 


TRAVELLING    DAYS    BEGIN  IO5 

It  ,was  on  this  visit  to  London  that  I  heard  William  E. 
Gladstone  for  the  first  and  only  time.  He  addressed  a  great 
congregation  of  nonconformist  ministers  in  the  Memorial  Hall 
on  Farringdon  Street,  on  the  issues  of  the  day.  As  the  minis- 
ters practically  all  belonged  to  the  Liberal  Party,  of  which  he 
was  the  exponent  and  leader,  they  literally  went  wild  with  en- 
thusiasm, if  ever  an  audience  did,  punctuating  every  sentence, 
whether  important  or  commonplace,  with  rounds  of  applause. 

Mr.  Gladstone  was  famous  for  having  trouble  with  his  old- 
fashioned  neck-gear  on  public  occasions,  and,  this  time,  too, 
his  dickey  and  necktie  got  away  from  him,  .while  he  tried  un- 
availingly  to  get  them  back  where  they  belonged.  Even  this 
was  a  subject  for  unroarious  applause,  actuated  perhaps  by  the 
kind  intention  of  giving  him  a  breathing  spell,  wherein  he 
might  adjust  his  cravat.  I  do  not  remember  the  points  of  his 
address,  but  the  whole  scene  gave  me  a  vivid  impression  of  the 
extraordinary  love,  devotion,  and  admiration  which  his  Liberal 
contemporaries  felt  for  this  greatest  British  statesman  of  the 
age.  One  statement  of  the  venerable  premier  made  a  pro- 
found impression  upon  the  audience,  when  he  intimated  that 
his  opponents  were  hoping  to  prevent  his  Home  Rule  bill 
from  becoming  law  until  after  he  should  have  finished  out 
his  short  remaining  span  of  life  and  could  no  longer  advocate  it. 
The  emotions  of  the  audience  are  hard  to  describe,  for  anger 
at  his  opponents,  grief,  and  admiration  for  the  speaker  were 
so  involved  that  his  hearers  could  scarcely  contain  themselves. 
I  never  saw  England's  Grand  Old  Man  again,  but  a  few  years 
later,  when  I  happened  to  be  in  London,  I  followed  the  throng 
which  crowded  into  Westminster  Hall  to  pay  their  last  respects 
as  his  body  lay  in  its  casket  upon  the  great  catafalque.  His 
face  was  not  shown,  but  we  knew  that  all  that  was  mortal  of 
the  noblest  Briton  of  the  century  lay  within  those  narrow,  oaken 
walls. 

Returning  to  America  and  to  my  family,  which  shortly  be- 
fore my  departure  to  England  had  been  increased  by  the  birth 


I06  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN     MANY    LANDS 

of  our  second  son,  "  Harold  Symmes,"  we  soon  removed  from 
South  Boston  to  Auburndale,  where  I  had  built  a  home  on  a 
street  that  is  now  called  Williston  Roadj  a  house  now  occupied 
by  my  esteemed  associate,  the  prolific  and  well-known  author 
and  editor  of  The  Christian  Endeavor  Worldy  Dr.  Amos  R. 
Wells.  I  was  attracted  to  Auburndale  by  the  happy  m.emories 
of  my  boyhood  there,  and,  though  I  found  it  much  enlarged, 
and  that  it  had  become  an  important  suburb  of  Boston,  and  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  villages  of  the  city  of  Newton,  I  also 
found  the  same  kindly  atmosphere  and  neighborly  good-will 
that  I  remembered  in  the  earlier  days.  It  was  dubbed  "  The 
Saint's  Rest,"  because  of  the  number  of  ministers  and  mission- 
aries who  had  made  it  their  abode,  but  most  of  these  saints 
were  very  busy  people  and  did  very  little  resting,  unless  to 
"  rest  in  the  Lord  "  is  the  meaning  of  the  phrase. 

Here  our  youngest  son,  "  Sydney  Aylmer,"  was  born  in 
1890,  and  here  we  spent  nearly  twenty-five  happy  and  busy 
years,  interrupted  by  many  journeys  abroad  and  to  all  parts  of 
the  American  continent. 


Chapter  XI 
Years    i 892-1 893 

EARLY  JOURNEYS  IN  LANDS  AFAR 

THE  AMERICAN  QUARTETTE "  NEW  YORK  '92" A  ROUND- 
THE-WORLD    COMMISSION  SIX    WEEKS    IN    AUSTRALIA 

CHINA,   JAPAN,    AND    INDIA IN    THE    CENTRE    OF    A    TY- 
PHOON   A  SORE  DISAPPOINTMENT. 

HAVE  neglected  to  mention  that  at  the  sec- 
ond of  the  two  memorable  annual  conven- 
tions of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  held 
at  Saratoga  Springs,  N.  Y.,  in  1886  and  1887, 
I  was  chosen  president  of  the  United  Society 
of  Christian  Endeavor,  a  new  responsibility 
which  hastened  my  decision  to  give  up  the  pastorate  of  Phillips 
Church.  The  movement  grew  with  phenomenal  rapidity 
year  by  year  in  America,  and  foundations  for  a  large  expansion 
of  its  work  were  laid  in  India,  China,  Japan,  Turkey,  and 
Mexico,  to  which  lands  our  American  missionaries  had  carried 
the  new  ideas  of  Christian  nurture.  In  the  Kingdom  of 
Hawaii,  as  it  then  was,  where  the  first  society  outside  of  the 
United  States  was  established  in  1883,  the  movement  grew  as 
rapidly  as  in  the  home  land. 

In  Great  Britain  its  growth  was  slower,  but  was  sufficiently 
encouraging  to  lead  the  Endeavorers  of  that  country  to  invite 
some  of  their  American  brethren  to  cross  the  Atlantic  at  their 
own  expense  for  a  short  campaign  in  the  different  cities  of  the 
United  Kingdom.  This  was  three  years  after  my  visit  de- 
scribed in  the  last  chapter.  Three  of  my  ministerial  compan- 
ions, Charles  A.   Dickinson,  James  L.   Hill,  and   Nehemiah 

107 


I08  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Boynton,  with  myself,  accepted  this  invitation  in  1891,  and 
each  of  us  addressed  meetings  in  a  dozen  or  more  of  the 
cities  of  the  United  Kingdom. 

I  do  not  now  distinctly  remember  all  the  places  that  I  visited 
that  year,  but  one  of  them  was  Birmingham,  where  the  meet- 
ing was  held  in  Carr's  Lane  Chapel,  of  which  the  celebrated 
Dr.  Dale  was  then  the  pastor.  He  was  in  some  respects  the 
greatest  power  in  the  Free  Churches  of  Great  Britain  at  that 
time,  and,  though  he  was  absent  from  Birmingham  when  the 
Christian  Endeavor  meeting  was  held  in  his  church,  I  have 
cherished  a  warm  letter  of  sympathy  and  approval  of  the 
movement,  and  regret  for  his  absence,  which  he  sent  to  me 
shortly  afterwards. 

Occasionally,  at  intervals  between  the  meetings,  the  Ameri- 
can quartette  got  together  to  compare  notes,  to  recount  their 
adventures,  and  to  smile  at  peculiarities  which,  in  our  provin- 
cial Americanism,  we  considered  provincial  Britishisms.  Before 
the  arrival  of  the  others,  for  we  sailed  on  different  ships, 
Dickinson  and  I  attended  the  first  British  National  Christian 
Endeavor  convention  in  Crewe,  and  after  the  campaign  was 
over  he  and  I  extended  our  journey  as  far  as  Rome,  indulging 
in  a  few  days  of  sight-seeing  before  returning  home. 

This  journey  helped  the  Christian  Endeavor  cause  very 
considerably.  I  have  heard  since  that  there  was  more  or  less 
scoffing  by  the  unsympathetic,  at  those  "  young  American 
preachers,"  who  had  come  to  teach  the  Britishers  better  ways  of 
training  the  young  people,  but  on  the  whole  our  audiences  were 
remarkably  cordial  and  friendly. 

The  National  Christian  Endeavor  convention  of  1892  in 
New  York  City  was  a  record-breaker  in  more  senses  than  one. 
No  such  religious  convention  had  ever  been  held  in  America, 
nor,  for  that  matter,  in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  Some 
twenty-five  thousand  young  people  attended  it  and  Madison 
Square  Garden  was  crowded  day  after  day,  while  the  over- 
flow filled  many  churches  and  out-door  spaces  besides.      It 


EARLY  JOURNEYS  IN  LANDS  AFAR  IO9 

was  almost  as  much  of  a  surprise  to  the  leaders  of  the  move- 
ment as  to  the  outside  public,  though  we  did  not  share  the 
diminutive  ideas  of  the  New  York  hotel-keeper,  who  offered 
to  take  in  the  whole  convention,  in  addition  to  his  other  guests. 

One  minister  assured  me  before  the  convention  began  that 
it  "  would  not  make  a  ripple  in  New  York  City,  since  conven- 
tions came  and  went  and  nobody  knew  they  were  there." 

But  the  people  of  New  York  were  very  well  aware  before 
the  meetings  ,were  over  that  twenty-five  thousand  eager  and 
earnest  young  people,  with  their  songs  and  badges  and  banners 
and  bright  faces,  were  taking  the  city  by  storm.  The  New 
York  papers  which  began  by  giving  scanty  reference  to  the 
convention,  ended  by  devoting  many  columns  to  it  each  day, 
and  even  the  cynical  New  York  Sun,  whose  reporters  at  first 
came  to  scoff,  remained  to  praise  if  not  to  pray. 

Such  men  as  Whitelaw  Reid,  John  Wanamaker,  afterwards 
a  trustee  of  the  United  Society,  and  Chauncy  Depew  were  at- 
tracted to  the  meetings,  and  though  not  on  the  programme 
spoke  brief  words  of  good  cheer.  Mr.  Depew  declared,  with 
a  covert  smile,  that  "  New  York  never  looked  so  fresh  and 
green  before,"  a  remark  which  might  or  might  not  be  attri- 
buted to  the  verdure  induced  by  recent  rains.  He  also  assured 
us  on  that  occasion  (a  remark  .which  I  have  heard  him  repeat 
once  or  twice  since)  that  the  New  York  Central  Railroad,  of 
which  he  was  then  the  president,  transported  an  immense 
throng,  such  as  it  had  never  before  handled,  with  promptness 
and  despatch  and  without  a  single  accident  j  — an  admirable 
occasion  for  an  advertisement  of  the  great  railway  system. 

This  convention,  with  reports  concerning  the  spread  of 
Christian  Endeavor  in  many  lands,  led  us  to  realize,  as  we  had 
never  done  before,  that  it  was  becoming  a  world-wide  move- 
ment, and  that  something  should  be  done  to  unify  its  forces 
and  lead  Endeavorers  everywhere  to  feel  their  kinship  one  with 
another.  So  it  was  decided  in  New  York  that  I  ought  to  make 
a  journey  around  the  .world,  accompanied  by  Mrs.  Clark,  to 


no  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

accomplish  this  purpose  so  far  as  we  could.  Some  two  months 
later  we  started  on  the  first  of  our  long  pilgrimages,  which  took 
us  on  this  occasion  across  the  continent,  and  then  across  the 
Pacific  to  Hawaii,  New  Zealand,  Australia,  China,  Japan,  India, 
Egypt,  Syria,  Turkey,  Spain,  and  Great  Britain j  a  journey 
which  occupied  some  eleven  months,  and  was  a  memorable 
one,  at  least  to  those  who  made  it. 

The  United  Society,  being  more  flush  with  funds  at  this 
early  period  than  it  has  been  since,  because  of  its  fewer  re- 
sponsibilities and  contributions  in  mission  lands,  paid  a  part  of 
our  travelling  expenses  on  this  journey.  Since  then,  however, 
for  thirty  years  I  have  paid  all  our  expenses  when  going  to 
missionary  lands,  and  have  in  large  part  earned  the  money  by 
articles  and  books  inspired  by  these  travels  and  largely  written 
on  steamships  and  railroad  trains. 

Australia  was  the  first  land  where  we  made  any  prolonged 
stayj  though,  while  the  steamer  stopped  for  a  few  hours  in  the 
harbors  of  Honolulu  and  Auckland,  meetings  were  held  on 
shore.  In  the  harbor  of  Appia  in  Samoa  we  saw  the  pathetic 
relics  of  the  memorable  typhoon  of  a  few  years  before.  Two 
German  men-of-war,  and  one  American,  were  cast  up  on  the 
shore  by  this  tremendous  storm.  Their  bones  were  bleaching 
in  the  tropic  sun,  and  we  recalled  the  story  of  the  British 
steamer,  Bellerophon,  which  was  able  to  steam  out  of  the 
harbor  in  the  teeth  of  the  typhoon,  while  the  sailors  of  the 
doomed  American  cruiser  manned  the  yards,  and  gave  them 
a  ringing  cheer,  though  they  knew  that  they  themselves  were 
being  driven  by  the  gale  straight  to  destruction.  There,  too, 
we  saw  in  the  distance  the  site  of  the  grave  of  Robert  Louis 
Stevenson  on  the  top  of  a  conical  green-clad  hill.  Near  this 
spot  the  natives  had  with  great  exertions  built  the  "  Road  of 
the  Loving  Heart." 

The  steamer  on  which  we  sailed  for  Australia  was  small, 
and  the  unending  swell  of  the  Pacific  was  heavy,  and  few  and 
joyous  were  the  days  when  my  wife  escaped  seasickness.     As 


EARLY  JOURNEYS  IN  LANDS  AFAR  I  I  I 

we  sailed  into  the  magnificent  Bay  of  Sydney,  which  constitutes 
the  most  spacious  land-locked  harbor  in  the  world,  we  saw  a 
steam  launch  coming  out  from  the  city  bearing  a  great  streamer, 
on  which  the  letters  Y.P.S.C.E.  were  conspicuously  displayed. 
We  appreciated  the  abounding  hospitality  and  cordial  greet- 
ings of  our  friends,  but  what  was  the  dismay  of  Mrs.  Clark, 
who  was  longing  to  put  foot  on  terra,  iirma,  to  find  that  we 
were  expected  to  step  from  the  steamer,  not  on  to  the  dry  land, 
but  down  into  the  little  launch,  for  several  hours  sail  around 
the  harbor. 

Still,  if  any  other  city  in  the  world  possessed  such  a  magni- 
ficent harbor  as  Sydney,  its  inhabitants  would  be  equally  proud 
of  it,  and  would  be  quite  willing  to  endure  the  chaffing  which 
their  pride  engenders;  as  for  instance,  when  the  sailors  of  a 
British  man-of-war  on  shore-leave,  are  said  to  have  paraded 
the  streets  of  Sydney  ,with  high  collars  on  which  was  printed 
conspicuously  the  legend,  "  Yes,  we  have  seen  your  harbor  and 
admire  /V." 

Our  six  weeks  in  Australia  were  busy  ones  indeed.  Meet- 
ings morning,  and  afternoon,  and  evenings,  the  only  rests  being 
the  long  railway  journeys  between  the  cities;  journeys  facil- 
itated by  free  passes  over  all  the  Australian  railways.  Our 
itinerary  included  Sydney  and  Melbourne,  Ballarat  and 
Adelaide,  and  back  again  across  Victoria,  New  South  Wales, 
to  Queensland,  some  three  thousand  miles  in  all  to  Brisbane. 
From  Brisbane  we  sailed  for  China  on  the  "  Ching  tu,"  and 
luxuriated,  during  fifteen  days,  in  the  calm  tropic  seas,  behind 
the  Great  Barrier  Reef,  which  encircles  a  large  section  of 
Australia;  through  the  Arafura,  Sulu,  and  the  Celebes  Seas, 
dotted  with  islands  as  they  are,  until  at  last,  we  reached  Hong 
Kong,  the  famous  British  city  of  southern  China. 

Before  leaving  Australia  I  must  tell  of  some  of  the  famous 
Australians  whom  we  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting.  One  of 
our  fellow-passengers  on  the  "  Mariposa  "  was  Sir  George 
Dibbs,  then  the  premier  of  New  South  Wales,  who  had  left 


112 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN    MANY    LANDS 


Australia  a  few  months  before,  as  I  was  told,  a  roaring  re- 
publican, despising  kings  and  queens  and  royalties  and  nobilities 
of  all  sorts.  But  while  in  England,  he  had  knelt  before  good 
Queen  Victoria,  and,  at  the  tap  of  her  sword,  plain  George 
Dibbs  had  risen  as  Sir  George  Dibbs.    With  pardonable  pride. 


A    BUSY    STREET    OF    SyDNEY,    NeW    SoUTH    WaLES 

but  with  a  very  subdued  type  of  republicanism,  he  showed  us 
the  decoration,  "  the  bauble  "  as  he  called  it,  which  represented 
his  knighthood. 

He  had  the  reputation  of  being  by  no  means  a  religious 
man,  but  at  the  Sunday-evening  song-services  on  the  steamer, 
.which  Mrs.  Clark  persuaded  him  to  attend  (his  first  religious 
services  for  many  years,  he  declared),  he  frequently  called  for 
his  favorite  hymn,  "  Nothing  but  leaves,"  by  which  he  perhaps 
hoped  to  do  a  mild  penance  for  a  non-religious  life.  When 
boasting  to  Mrs.  Clark  one  day  of  winning  the  pool  on 
the  ship's  run,  she  suggested  that  it  would  be  a  pretty  good  plan 
for  him  to  put  a  tenth  of  it  into  the  box  which  stood  in  the 


EARLY  JOURNEYS  IN  LANDS  AFAR  II3 

companion  way  for  the  benefit  of  the  widows  and  orphans  of 
sailors.  He  at  once  handed  over  to  her  a  tenth  part  of  his  ill- 
gotten  gains,  and  after  that  he  compelled  the  winner  of  the 
pool  each  day  to  do  the  same,  so  that  the  widows  and  orphans 
profited  more  by  that  voyage  than  by  any  previous  one  for 
many  a  long  year,  since  the  pools  were  seldom  less  than  a 
hundred  dollars  a  day. 

One  of  the  famous  ministers  of  Australia  was  our  host  in 
Melbourne,  Dr.  Llewellen  Bevan,  well  known  in  three  con- 
tinents, Europe,  America,  and  Australia,  where  he  had  held 
notable  pastorates.  He  was  one  of  the  best  raconteurs  who 
ever  told  a  good  story.  After  the  late  evening  meetings  came  a 
late  supper,  and  afterwards  a  round  of  good  stories  from  the 
doctor  until  one  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

While  pastor  of  the  Brick  Church  in  New  York  City  he 
criticised  in  public  a  woman  for  coughing  unnecessarily  during 
the  service.  This  subjected  him  to  severe  criticism  in  the  press, 
and  he  was  accustomed  to  speak  of  it  jocosely  as  "  the  cough 
heard  around  the  world."  His  imitation  of  the  high-brow 
English  accent  was  side-splitting,  and,  being  a  Welshman,  he 
did  not  hesitate  to  take  off  his  English  fellow-countrymen. 
Relating  how  a  public  meeting  was  broken  up  he  told,  amid 
peels  of  laughter,  how  the  chairman  of  the  meeting  attempted 
to  eulogize  Mr.  Spicer,  the  candidate  for  Parliament,  whom  he 
called  "  Mistah  Spisah." 

"  I  have  great  pleashah,"  said  the  chairman,  "  in  advocating 
the  election  of  Mistah  Spisah."  "Heah!  Heah!  "  said  the 
solemn  voice  of  a  political  opponent  in  the  gallery,  and  the 
audience  tittered.  "  We  cannot  do  bettah  than  to  elect  Mistah 
Spisah,"  continued  the  chairman.  "  Heah!  Heah!  "  came  the 
monotonous  echo  from  the  gallery.  "  I  am  glad  to  announce," 
continued  the  chairman,  when  the  laughter  had  subsided, 
"  That  we  shall  soon  have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  from  Mistah 
Spisah."  "  Heah!  Heah!  "  again  came  from  the  gallery  god. 
By  this  time  many  of  the  audience  took  up  the  refrain,  while 


114  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

the  rest  roared  with  laughter,  and  the  chairman  was  unable  to 
complete  his  address. 

Dr.  Bevan  recently  died  in  Adelaide,  where  he  had  served 
as  principal  of  the  Congregational  Theological  College  for 
many  years.    He  was  mourned  by  all  who  knew  him. 

There  were  many  other  dear  friends  whom  we  met  in  Aus- 
tralia, whose  affection  I  cherish,  and  from  whom  I  have  fre- 
quently heard  during  all  these  later  years,  but  of  whom  I 
cannot  speak  in  this  chapter.  In  all  my  travels  I  have  never 
seen  a  more  genuine  and  delightfully  warm-hearted  people 
than  one  finds  in  those  great  islands  of  the  South  Pacific,  New 
Zealand,  Australia,  and  Tasmania.  The  meetings  in  all  the 
cities  were  great  in  size,  usually  crowding  the  largest  halls, 
and  were  enthusiastic  almost  beyond  description. 

The  next  meetings  after  leaving  Australia  were  held  in 
Hong  Kong  and  Canton,  after  which  we  sailed  for  Yokohama. 
This  voyage  came  near  being  our  last,  for  our  little  steamer, 
"  the  Peru,"  of  three  thousand  tons  burden,  was  overtaken 
after  a  day  or  two  by  a  terrible  typhoon,  which,  on  its  way 
from  the  Philippines  gradually  overhauled  us.  For  days  the 
storm  had  been  increasing  in  volume,  and  finally  burst  upon  us 
with  terrific  force.  All  one  night  the  storm  raged,  except  for 
about  an  hour  when  we  were  in  the  centre  of  the  typhoon. 

A  typhoon  (as  is  well  known)  is  a  circular  storm  revolving 
with  tremendous  velocity  around  a  comparatively  calm  centre. 

While  in  this  calm  centre  numerous  exhausted  sea  birds 
dropped  upon  our  deck,  and  remained  with  us  until  better 
weather  returned.  The  outer  edge  of  the  storm  was  even 
worse  than  the  first  contact,  and  it  seemed  as  though  our  ship 
would  surely  founder.  Our  own  stateroom  was  on  deck,  while 
our  thirteen  year  old  son,  Eugene,  was  below  in  a  cabin  room. 
Many  of  the  passengers,  finding  themselves  unable  to  stay  in 
their  berths,  lay  on  the  saloon  floor,  holding  on  to  the  pillars 
or  chairs.  Eugene  could  not  get  to  us  or  we  to  him,  but  so  far 
as  he  was  concerned  it  made  no  difference,  for  he  was  too  sleepy 


EARLY    JOURNEYS    IN    LANDS    AFAR  II5 

to  know  how  severe  and  dangerous  the  storm  was,  and  slept 
through  the  most  of  it. 

At  length  day  dawned,  and  the  worst  of  the  storm  was  past. 
In  the  distance  the  snow-capped  peak  of  Fujiyama  looked  down 
upon  us  benignantly,  and  we  knew  that  our  troubles  for  the 
time  were  over.  Mrs.  Clark,  searching  amid  the  wreck  of  toilet 
articles  and  various  kinds  of  debris  on  the  floor  of  our  cabin, 
found  a  "  Friendship  Calendar,"  which  home  friends  had 
written  out  for  her,  and  thinking  to  find  a  word  of  comfort 
and  help  she  looked  for  the  message  for  the  day,  which  proved 
to  be  this: 

The  Lord  is  able  to  give  thee  much  more  than  this!  " 

We  sincerely  hoped  He  would  not,  however. 

This  day  was  the  American  Thanksgiving  Day  and  it  may 
well  be  believed  that  we  ate  with  more  than  usual  gratitude 
the  Captain's  Thanksgiving  dinner  with  "  turkey  and  fixin's." 

In  Japan  the  rough  ways  of  travel  were  made  smooth  by 
my  friend  and  classmate.  Rev.  James  H.  Pettee,  whose 
long  and  eminent  service  in  that  country  was  afterwards  recog- 
nized by  the  degree  of  D.D.  from  two  American  colleges. 
In  his  home  in  Okayama  we  obtained  our  first  genuine  glimpse 
of  every-day  life  in  Japan,  while  his  gifted  wife  took  us  to 
the  homes  of  some  of  the  Christian  Japanese  who  inducted  us 
into  the  mysteries  of  Ceremonial  Tea,  and  other  things 
Japanese.  Until  his  sudden  death  in  America  in  the  rooms  of 
the  American  Board  in  Boston,  just  as  he  was  about  to  return 
to  his  work  in  Japan,  he  had  been  the  leader,  among  the  mis- 
sionaries, of  the  Christian  Endeavor  forces  of  that  country, 
where  a  national  union  now  exists. 

After  a  few  weeks  in  Japan  we  returned  to  China  and  en- 
joyed some  pleasant-meetings  in  Shanghai  and  Ningpo.  While 
in  Shanghai  we  were  invited  by  a  missionary  friend  to  visit 
the  native  Chinese  city.  Any  one  who  has  been  there  knows 
how   crowded   those   little   narrow   streets   are   with   jostling. 


Il6  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN     MANY    LANDS 

pushing  coolies  and  men  intent  on  all  kinds  of  business  of  their 
own.  We  had  been  travelling  so  rapidly  that  our  letters  could 
not  keep  up  with  us,  and  we  had  found  nearly  two  months 
accumulation  of  mail  matter  awaiting  us. 

I  had  crowded  some  fifty  or  more  letters  just  obtained  at  the 
American  consul's  office  into  my  overcoat  pocket,  but  had  not 
had  time  to  read  one  of  them. 

When  we  had  finished  the  novel  and  interesting  rounds  of 
the  queer  old  city,  I  felt  in  my  pocket  and  found,  to  my  dismay, 
that  every  one  of  the  letters  had  been  stolen,  with  the  exception 
of  one  that  had  dropped  out  of  the  package.  All  the  home 
news  covering  those  two  months,  all  news  from  my  office,  and 
from  neighbors,  was  irretrievably  gone.  We  advertised  and 
made  every  effort  to  get  them,  but  it  was  useless,  and  in  a  day 
or  two  we  had  to  sail  away  again,  for  another  long  voyage,  with 
no  information  concerning  the  welfare  of  children  and  home 
friends.  Few  disappointments  could  have  been  more 
poignant. 

From  Shanghai  ,we  sailed  for  India  by  way  of  the  Straits 
Settlements  and  spent  some  memorable  weeks  with  the  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Arcot  Mission  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Board, 
where  Christian  Endeavor  first  took  root  in  India,  and  after- 
wards in  the  Madura  and  Marathi  missions  of  the  American 
Board,  and  in  the  Baptist  mission  among  the  Telugus  where 
I  enjoyed  a  few  interesting  days.  Rev,  Robert  Hume,  D.D., 
of  whom  I  have  before  spoken,  one  of  the  most  eminent  mis- 
sionaries whom  India  has  known,  was  the  leading  spirit  in  the 
Marathi  Mission.  He  was  not  at  first  greatly  impressed 
with  the  value  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement,  but 
afterwards  came  to  regard  it  as  one  of  the  leading  agencies 
for  the  evangelizing  of  India,  and  has  frequently  thus  ex- 
pressed himself  in  public. 

Some  years  later  at  a  great  public  meeting  in  Tremont 
Temple  in  Boston,  when  he  was  at  home  on  a  furlough,  he 
told  of  his  conversion  to  the  merits  of  the  organization,  and 


EARLY    JOURNEYS    IN    LANDS    AFAR  II7 

regretted  that  he  had  "  poured  cold  water  on  Dr.  Clark  on 
his  first  visit  to  India,"  though,  to  tell  the  truth,  I  had  not 
been  aware  of  any  douche  of  that  sort. 

The  late  Dr.  P.  S.  Henson,  the  ever  witty,  who  was  then 
the  pastor  of  the  Tremont  Temple  Baptist  church,  was  the 
next  speaker,  and  created  much  amusement  by  declaring  that 
Dr.  Hume  had  made  a  great  mistake  in  -pouring  water  on  Dr. 
Clark.  The  missionary  ought,  he  said,  to  have  put  him  clear 
under,  and  then  he  would  have  come  out  a  thorough-going 
Baptist. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  men  who  ever  went  to  the 
mission  field  was  Dr.  Jacob  Chamberlain  of  the  Arcot  Mis- 
sion, a  member  of  a  celebrated  missionary  family.  He  had 
had  many  adventures  during  his  life  in  India,  adventures 
which  he  knew  how  to  recount  with  much  literary  grace  and 
vividness.  Soon  afterwards  he  asked  me  to  write  an  intro- 
duction to  one  of  his  volumes  of  missionary  adventure  en- 
titled, "  In  the  Tiger  Jungle."  Another  commission  of  the 
same  sort  which  I  was  glad  to  perform  was  the  writing  of  an 
introduction  for  an  admirable  resume  of  missions  throughout 
the  world  by  Mrs.  William  Scudder  of  the  same  Arcot 
Mission. 

The  rest  of  this  eleven  months'  journey  held  incidents 
enough  to  fill  another  chapter. 


Chapter    XII 
Year    1893 

IN    PALESTINE,    TURKEY,    AND    EUROPE 

THE    TERRORS    OF    JAFFA TURKISH    OBJECTIONS    TO    LITERA- 
TURE   UNSUCCESSFUL       ATTEMPTS       AT       SMUGGLING 

THE     BIRTHPLACE     OF     ST.     PAUL CILICIAN     GATES    AND 

TAURUS      MOUNTAINS A      PERILOUS      JOURNEY CON- 
STANTINOPLE   AND    HAMID    II.  SPAIN    AND    ENGLAND. 

FTER  leaving  India  this  first  round-the- 
world  journey  took  us  across  the  Indian 
Ocean,  through  the  hot  Red  Sea  and  the 
Suez  Canal  to  Ismailyeh  and  Cairo.  A 
short  stay  in  Cairo  gave  us  an  opportunity 
to  see  something  of  the  work  of  the  splendid 
United  Presbyterian  Mission  in  Egypt,  of  which  I  may  speak 
further  in  connection  with  later  journeys.  In  this  mission  the 
Christian  Endeavor  movement  has  long  flourished. 

We  were  obliged  to  hasten  on  to  Palestine,  and  the  landing 
at  Jaffa  was  all  that  our  most  vivid  imagination  had  painted 
it.  We  were  on  the  edge  of  a  storm  during  which  no  other 
landings  were  possible  for  some  days  after  our  ship  discharged 
her  cargo.  The  story  was  still  fresh  of  the  landing  party 
which  was  held  up  midway  between  the  ship  and  the  shore  by 
the  rascally  boatmen,  who  demanded  backshish,  until  the  small 
boat  was  overturned  and  all  the  passengers  were  drowned, 
while  the  crew  saved  themselves.  This  story  did  not  add  to 
our  comfort  as  our  small  boat  surmounted,  one  after 
another,  the  big  waves  which  rolled  between  us  and 
the     slippery     landing     place     which     at     Jaffa     does     duty 

118 


IN    PALESTINE,    TURKEY,    AND    EUROPE  I  I9 

for  a  pier.  Modern  travellers  can  now  go  comfortably 
by  rail  all  the  way  from  Cairo  to  Jerusalem,  one  of  the  few 
blessings  resulting   from   the   war. 

Our  stay  in  Palestine  was  necessarily  brief,  and  we  went 
Httle  further  than  Jerusalem  and  Bethlehem  at  this  time, 
for  we  knew  that  a  missionary  friend  was  coming  across  the 
Taurus   Mountains  in   a  wagon,  a   long  seven-days  journey, 


Some   Leading  Christian   Endeavorers   of  Cairo  on   a   Picnic 

TO  THE  Pyramids 

to  meet  us  at  Mersin,  and  take  us  back  with  him  to  his  home 
in  Cesarea,  in  the  centre  of  Asia  Minor.  I  will  speak  later 
of  a  longer  journey  in  Palestine. 

The  journey  across  Asiatic  Turkey  was,  in  some  parts  of  it 
at  least,  as  exciting  as  it  was  interesting,  for  in  the  early  days 
of  1893  the  Turks  were  on  the  verge  of  one  of  their  periodi- 
cal outbreaks  against  the  Armenians,  and  massacres  and 
rumors  of  massacres  were  in  the  air,  though  they  did  not  break 
out  in  their  full  bloody  horrors  until  later  in  the  year. 


120  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

When  our  steamer  reached  Mersiii,  as  we  expected,  our 
missionary  friend,  Rev,  James  L.  Fowle,  was  waiting  on  the 
wharf  to  receive  us.  We  had  been  informed  of  the  exceed- 
ing anxiety  of  the  Turkish  government  to  prevent  the  con- 
tamination of  its  subjects  with  .western  literature.  Some 
stories  were  rife  at  that  time,  which  were  at  least  good  enough 
to  be  true.  One  was  to  the  effect  that  a  text-book  on  chem- 
istry was  forbidden  entrance  to  the  Empire  because  the 
formula  for  water,  "  H-O,"  might  be  interpreted  to  mean, 
"  Hamid  II  is  nothing."  This  I  believe  to  be  an  actual  fact, 
though  I  am  not  so  sure  that  a  school  geography  was  objected 
to  because  it  referred  to  the  "  union  "  of  the  waters  of  the 
Missouri  with  the  Mississippi,  since  the  Sultan  did  not  wish 
his  subjects  to  know  anything  about  unions  or  combinations  of 
any  kind. 

A  whole  edition  of  one  English  book  relating  to  Turkey  was 
seized  and  burned  upon  its  arrival  and  when  an  eminent  classi- 
cal scholar  of  Constantinople  remonstrated  with  the  authorities, 
they  declared  that  it  was  utterly  impossible  that  such  a  book 
should  be  allowed  in  the  Empire  since  it  contained  a 
reflection  upon  the  Turkish  government.  "  Did  you  ever 
realize,"  replied  the  scholar,  "  how  large  a  vacancy  would  be 
left  in  the  world's  literature,  if  every  book  containing  any- 
thing derogatory  to  Turkey  were  eliminated?  " 

Knowing  something  of  this  antipathy  to  English  literature, 
my  wife,  not  wishing  to  be  deprived  of  her  Bible,  had 
placed  it  with  one  or  two  other  books  under  a  pile  of  soiled 
linen  in  a  travelling  bag  which  had  been  hitherto  entirely 
devoted  to  laundry  purposes. 

Going  ashore  we  found  the  Turkish  custom-house  official  in 
bad  humor,  and  with  some  excuse,  for  it  was  the  time  of  the 
Fast  of  Ramadan,  and  he  had  haci  nothing  to  eat  since  the 
night  before.  My  ,wife  went  on  to  a  missionary  home  near 
by,  leaving  Mr.  Fowle  and  myself  to  struggle  with  the 
ofiicial. 


IN    PALESTINE,    TURKEY,    AND    EUROPE  121 

"  Open  that  thing,"  he  said  gruffly,  pointing  to  the  laundry 
bag.  "  I  assure  you,"  I  said,  "  it  contains  nothing  but 
soiled  clothing,"  for  my  wife  had  not  told  me  of  her  attempt 
at  innocent  smuggling. 

At  this  my  missionary  friend  spoke  up,  saying:  "  You  can 
believe  what  he  says,  for  he  is  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  and 
I  am  a  missionary."  "  How  do  I  know  but  what  you  are  both 
lying,"  the  unmannerly  official  replied.  "  Missionaries  don't 
lie,"  said  my  friend.  "  Open  that  bag!  "  was  the  only  answer. 
Glowing  with  conscious  rectitude,  I  opened  the  bag,  took  ofF 
the  first  layer  of  shirts,  and  there  lay  the  incriminating 
Bible.  It  can  be  imagined  with  what  scrupulous  care  the  rest 
of  our  baggage  was  examined,  and  that  every  scrap  of  printed 
and  written  matter  was  taken  away  from  us. 

The  only  one  who  rejoiced  in  this  conscientious  work  of 
the  official  was  our  son,  Eugene,  whose  Latin  grammar  and 
other  text-books  which  he  was  expected  to  study  more  or  less 
every  day,  were  taken  with  the  rest  of  the  plunder.  We  did 
not  see  them  for  another  six  weeks,  when,  through  the  exer- 
tions of  the  American  Minister  to  Turkey,  our  books  were 
returned  to  us,  together  with  several  others  that  did  not  be- 
long to  us,  but  not  until  we  had  reached  Athens,  and  were 
well  out  of  the  Sultan's  domains. 

We  were  delayed  several  days  in  Adana  and  Tarsus,  wait- 
ing for  a  bouroultoo  or  safe  conduct  from  the  Vali  of  Adana. 
At  last  it  came,  written  in  bold  and  straggling  Arabic  char- 
acters which  seemed  to  say  by  their  vigorous  uphill  slant, 
"  Let  these  people  go  on  their  way  in  safety  or  else  your  head 
will  come  off  as  a  penalty."  In  fact  it  did  say  something  to 
that  effect,  though  not  being  proficient  in  Turkish  I  cannot 
give  an  exact  translation. 

Adana,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  in  1908  the  scene  of  one 
of  the  most  horrible  massacres  of  history,  until  it  was  eclipsed 
by  the  much  more  horrible  persecutions  of  191 5-1 9 18. 
Indeed,  a  few  weeks  after  our  arrival  in  Mersin,  and  shortly 


122  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

after  we  had  left  Turkey,  the  whole  country  was  red  with 
blood  and  lighted  with  the  torch  of  the  incendiary,  while  the 
great  Powers  of  Europe  looked  on  supinely,  saying  "  What 
can  we  do  about  it?  "  If  they  had  done  something  about  it 
then,  the  more  awful  horrors  of  later  years  might  have  been 
largely  averted. 

The  delay  in  waiting  for  our  safe-conduct  from  the  Vali 
gave  us  several  days  to  visit  Adana  and  Tarsus,  the  birth- 
place of  St.  Paul.  While  we  were  there  the  good  news  came 
to  the  principal  of  St.  Paul's  Institute,  a  high-grade  mission 
school  for  the  boys  of  Tarsus  and  vicinity,  that  Mr.  Elliott 
F.  Shepard  of  New  York  had  given  a  hundred  thousand 
dollars  to  the  endowment  of  the  school  j — welcome  news 
indeed  for  a  struggling  missionary  institution.  Good  use  has 
been  made  of  it  and  ever  since  the  school  has  taken  high  rank 
among  the  educational  institutions  of  Turkey. 

The  morning  that  we  left  Tarsus  for  the  long  and  perilous 
journey  through  the  heart  of  Asia  Minor,  the  boys  of  the  two 
Christian  Endeavor  societies,  Senior  and  Junior,  met  to  give 
us  a  "  send-oif,"  and  their  kindly  good  wishes  for  the  journey. 
The  president  of  the  Junior  society,  who  voiced  the  feelings 
of  the  younger  boys,  soon  had  a  chance  to  test  his  faith,  for 
in  the  persecutions  that  followed  he  was  called  upon  to  re- 
nounce his  allegiance  to  Christ  or  "  suffer  the  loss  of  all 
things,"  even  life  itself.  Like  the  great  Apostle  of  Tarsus 
for  whom  the  school  was  named  he  chose  the  better  part  and 
would  not  so  much  as  hold  up  two  lingers,  as  he  was  urged  to 
do,  to  show  that  he  had  accepted  the  doctrines  of  Mohammed. 
In  the  political  trouble  of  1921-22  I  understand  this  institu- 
tion like  every  other  in  the  land  of  the  Turk,  has  suffered 
from  new  persecutions,  has  indeed  been  closed  and  the  city 
destroyed. 

The  journey  across  the  great  tablelands  of  Asia  Minor  was 
full  of  interesting  adventures.  Our  conveyance  was  one 
of    the    few    spring-wagons   in    all    Turkey.      It    looked    not 


ONE  OF  THE   GREAT  MOSQUES  OF    CONSTANTINOPLE 
The  boatmen  of  the  Bosphorus  in  the  foreground. 


IN    PALESTINE,    TURKEY,    AND    EUROPE  125 

unlike  a  "  prairie  schooner  "  and  carried  our  provisions,  our 
beds  and  bedding,  while  a  springless  wagon  of  native  manu- 
facture carried  our  trunks  and  other  belongings.  A  Turkish 
zabtieh,  or  soldier,  was  detailed  as  our  guard,  but  whether  he 
was  more  of  a  protection  or  a  peril  I  was  never  quite  able  to 
determine,  especially  when  he  was  caught  red-handed  carrying 
off  some  of  the  property  of  the  villagers  in  whose  houses  we 
had  lodged.  They  came  tearing  after  us  hot  foot,  searched 
and  found  in  the  saddle-bags  of  our  soldier  guardian  the 
Joseph's  cup  (a  pair  of  gloves)  which  was  lost. 

The  nights  were  usually  spent  in  stuffy,  filthy  khans  or  in 
worse  village  "  guest-rooms,"  and  the  days  in  the  wagon, 
which  was  able  to  make  some  thirty  miles  between  daylight 
and  dark  over  the  execrable  roads  which  still  characterize 
every  part  of  Turkey.  Indeed  in  some  places  there  were  no 
roads  at  all,  and  we  struck  off  across  the  fields.  The  only 
decent  stretches  of  highway  were  the  remains  of  the  old 
Roman  roads.  We  were  often  obliged  to  ford  the  streams 
as  best  we  could,  though  sometimes  the  Roman  bridges,  built 
two  thousand  years  ago,  were  still  intact.  From  others  the 
Turks  had  carried  off  the  stones  of  the  noble  arches  to  build 
their  huts  or  their  sheepfolds. 

The  "  Cilician  Gates,"  so  called,  is  not  far  from  Tarsus,  the 
name  being  applied  to  a  famous  narrow  pass  through  the 
magnificent  Taurus  Mountains  which  was  widened  and  made 
passable  for  heavy  transportation  by  the  enterprising  Tar- 
sians  hundreds  of  years  before  the  Christian  Era.  This  is 
a  world-renowned  engineering  feat  of  the  ancients,  and  re- 
sulted in  making  Tarsus  one  of  the  most  important  of  com- 
mercial centres  for  many  centuries. 

A  village  that  rejoiced  in  the  unhappy  name  of  "  Grave- 
yard Spout  "  was  our  first  stopping  place  for  the  night,  but 
the  "  spout  "  furnished  an  abundance  of  clear  cold  water  for 
our  wayside  ablutions  the  next  morning,  and  that  first  night 
was  by  no  means  the  worst  of  our  experiences. 


126  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

At  Nigdeh,  two  or  three  days'  march  further  on,  our  mission- 
ary friend  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  for  a  few  hours  until 
he  could  prove  his  harmless  intentions,  and  here  we  were  the 
guests  of  the  Armenian  pastor,  whose  cool,  clean  house  was  a 
great  contrast  to  the  filthy  unventilated  public  "  guest-room  " 
where  we  often  lodged. 

To  come  out  at  last  after  a  week's  journey  on  the  plains  of 
Cesarea  under  the  shadow  of  the  mighty  Ali  Dagh  was  a  wel- 
come event,  and  still  more  glad  were  ,we  to  find  ourselves  the 
guests  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Farnsworth,  the  veteran  missionaries  of 
Cesarea,  and  afterwards  of  their  daughter  Mrs.  James  L. 
Fowle  of  Talas,  a  near-by  suburb  of  Cesarea. 

After  the  long,  cramped  journey  in  the  missionary  wagon, 
and  the  nights  in  the  unsavory  guest-rooms,  a  genuine  Turkish 
bath  was  an  event  to  be  remembered.  It  was  none  of  your 
fake  Turkish  baths  of  our  big  cities,  with  steam  radiators  and 
gilded  ceilings,  and  Hibernian  Turks  to  rub  you  down,  but  the 
original  thing,  with  hot  stones  plunged  into  the  sizzling  water 
to  raise  the  steam j  lusty  Turks  to  massage  your  cuticle  until 
it  seemed  that  they  would  rub  it  to  ribbons,  and  a  fountain  of 
pure,  cold,  spring  water  for  the  final  douche.  The  only  baths 
that  I  remember  as  superior  to  the  one  in  Cesarea  are  the  more 
famous  establishments  at  Broussa,  Turkey,  where  natural  hot 
springs  make  the  hot  stones  unnecessary, 

A  ,week  in  these  mission  homes  of  which  I  have  spoken 
freshened  and  heartened  us  for  another  week  in  the  wagon  on 
our  way  to  Constantinople.  One  incident  of  the  latter  part 
of  this  journey  I  shall  never  forget.  We  had  come  to  the  town 
of  Istanos  where  was  a  vigorous  Armenian  church  housed  in 
a  comfortable  building,  a  Christian  Endeavor  society  being  one 
of  its  auxiliaries.  As  usual,  under  such  circumstances,  I  was 
asked  to  make  an  address,  which  the  Armenian  pastor  was  to 
interpret  into  the  vernacular.  I  noticed  his  nervousness  and 
hesitancy  and  the  blank  expression  on  the  faces  of  his  audience 
who  seemed  to  be  able  to  make  nothing  out  of  his  translation. 


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IN    PALESTINE,    TURKEY,    AND    EUROPE  1 29 

The  trouble  was  explained  later,  when  he  told  me  that  just 
as  I  began  to  speak  he  saw  a  Turkish  soldier  take  a  seat  in  the 
back  of  the  church,  whom  he  knew  to  be  a  spy  upon  our  pro- 
ceedings, while  he  also  kne.w  that  if  he  made  a  slip  and  pro- 
nounced a  forbidden  word,  we  should  all  find  ourselves  in  a 
Turkish  prison,  in  which  the  reform  principles  of  Mr.  Mott 
Osborne  are  by  no  means  enforced.  I  had  known  before  that 
many  words  were  on  the  Index  Expurgatorius  of  the  Sultan, 
among  them  "  union,"  "  fellowship,"  "  brotherhood,"  "  Chris- 
tian Endeavor,"  etc.  I  tried  to  avoid  them  as  far  as  possible, 
though  it  was  difficult  to  do  so,  but  in  his  nervousness  and  fright 
my  interpreter  succeeded  completely  in  not  only  avoiding  them, 
but  also  in  making  such  a  hodge-podge  of  my  speech  that  no 
one  knew  what  he  was  talking  about. 

In  Angora  we  looked  for  Angora  cats  but  saw  none,  a  fact 
which  confirmed  my  impression  that  the  last  place  to  find  an 
animal  or  an  article  is  the  place  that  has  given  its  name  to  it. 
Thus  in  Neuchatel  I  have  inquired  in  vain  for  Neuchatel  cheese, 
and  for  Apollinaris  Water  on  the  Rhine  steamers  that  sail  by 
Apollinaris.  When  in  the  Isle  of  Man  I  looked  diligently  for 
a  Manx  cat,  and  after  some  search  and  many  inquiries  was  re- 
warded by  the  sight  of  one  small  tailless  kitten,  one  of  a  brood 
of  four,  all  the  others  of  which  had  the  usual  caudal  appendage. 

However,  if  we  saw  no  Angora  cats  in  Angora,  we  saw  the 
beautiful  fleecy  Angora  goats  on  the  plains  near  by,  and,  what 
rejoiced  us  more,  we  found  a  railroad  train,  which  in  two  days 
took  us  to  Constantinople,  including  a  night's  stop  at  Eski- 
Shehir.  Turkish  trains  then  travelled  only  in  the  day  time, 
tying  up  at  night  when  darkness  overtook  them  at  some 
station  where  the  traveller  could  find  meagre  accommodations. 

No  unusual  experiences  were  enjoyed  or  endured  during 
the  rest  of  our  journey  to  America.  A  few  days  in  Constanti- 
nople enabled  us  to  visit  those  splendid  institutions  of  which 
all  Americans  should  be  proud,  Robert  College  and  the  Ameri- 
can College  for  Girls. 


130  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

That  marvellous  missionary  and  administrator,  Dr.  Cyrus 
Hamlin,  was  then  living  in  extreme  old  age  in  America.  He 
had  left  an  undying  impress  upon  Turkey,  not  only  in  the 
founding  of  Robert  College,  but  in  the  establishment  of  in- 
dustrial and  sanitary  reforms  in  Turkey.  To  know  him  in  re- 
tirement was  to  know  one  of  the  stalwarts  of  the  century,  a 
genuine  Yankee,  inventive,  resourceful,  indomitable,  and 
courageous,  a  man  whose  religious  convictions  were  a  part  of 
the  very  fibre  of  his  being.  His  autobiography,  "  My  Life 
and  Times,"  is  a  book  that  deserves  to  be  reprinted  in  a  new 
edition  for  every  generation  of  Americans. 

After  a  short  stay  in  Athens,  where  we  recovered  the  books 
which  were  so  offensive  to  the  Turkish  government,  we  made 
our  way  as  rapidly  as  possible  to  San  Sebastian  at  the  invitation 
of  Mrs.  Alice  Gordon  Gulick,  the  beloved  educator,  who  had 
adjured  us  to  follow  out  the  intention  of  St.  Paul  and  "  make 
our  journey  into  Spain."  The  famous  International  Institute 
for  girls  was  then  located  at  San  Sebastian,  the  beautiful  sum- 
mer resort  of  the  royalties  and  the  elite  of  Spain.  As  we 
entered  the  main  building  of  the  school,  the  pretty  Spanish 
girls  in  the  balcony  above  showered  rose  leaves  upon  us,  a  de- 
lightful welcome  which  was  borne  out  by  the  reception  given 
us  by  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Gulick  and  the  teachers  and  pupils  during 
our  short  stay. 

The  Christian  Endeavor  society  had  already  become  an  im- 
portant element  of  religious  training  among  the  girls  of  the 
school,  many  of  whom  in  future  days  went  out  to  establish 
little  centres  of  light  and  learning  in  the  darkest  districts  of 
Catholic  Spain.  Ever  since,  the  society  in  the  school,  now  re- 
moved to  Barcelona,  has  been  an  important  factor  in  the  life 
of  the  Protestant  church  of  Spain,  and,  as  we  shall  see  later, 
the  largest  religious  gathering  of  the  Reformed  churches  ever 
held  in  the  Iberian  Peninsula  was  in  connection  with  the 
Christian  Endeavor  convention  in  Barcelona. 

All  these  influences  had  their  start  in  Mrs.  Gulick's  heart 


IN    PALESTINE,    TURKEY,    AND    EUROPE  I3I 

and  brain.  She  deserves  to  rank  with  Mary  Lyon  as  one  of  the 
greatest  of  American  woman  educators.  Like  Mary  Lyon  she 
was  not  afraid  to  have  it  known  that  her  school  was  distinc- 
tively a  religious  and  Christian  institution,  as,  I  regret  to  say, 
are  the  principals  of  some  institutions  which  started  as  mis- 
sionary schools  and  received  the  money  for  their  endowment 
from  Christian  people. 

Mrs.  Gulick  went  to  her  great  reward  a  few  years  agoj  her 
husband.  Dr.  W.  H.  Gulick,  who  was  the  Nestor  of  all  the 
missionaries  of  Spain,  and  for  many  years  one  of  the  leaders 
of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  of  the  Kingdom,  passed 
away  in  1922. 

A  short  stay  in  London  enabled  us  to  attend  the  British 
National  Christian  Endeavor  convention  in  Bradford,  after 
which  we  sailed  for  home,  in  June  of  1893,  rejoiced  after  these 
long  wanderings  in  many  lands  to  greet  our  children,  relations, 
and  friends,  and  to  see  the  Stars  and  Stripes  floating  over  us 
once  more. 

One  result  of  the  adventures  and  experiences  of  this  journey 
was  a  large  and  fully  illustrated  volume,  chiefly  written  during 
the  journey  on  steamships  and  railway  trains  and  published  by 
A.  D.  Worthington  of  Hartford,  the  well-knqwn  subscription 
book-publisher  of  that  day. 

At  the  earnest  request  of  the  publishers  it  received  the  some- 
what banal  title,  "  Our  Journey  Around  the  World."  To  this 
volume  Mrs.  Clark  added  some  impressions  of  our  experiences 
from  a  woman's  standpoint.  From  the  viewpoint  of  its  cir- 
culation, this  was  one  of  the  most  successful  books  I  have  pub- 
lished, some  fifty  or  sixty  thousand  copies  being  sold,  the  royal- 
ties from  which  enabled  me  to  take  still  other  journeys  in  the 
interests  of  the  movement  which  it  seemed  my  duty  to 
promote. 


Chapter    XIII 
Year    1893 

CHRISTIAN    CITIZENSHIP    AND 
CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR 

PARTISAN    POLITICS A    TRAGEDY    TURNED    INTO    COMEDY 

AN      UNEXPECTED      COLD      DOUCHE THE      PRUDENTIAL 

COMMITTEE. 

OON  after  our  return  home  from  this  first 
journey  around  the  world  in  1893,  the  annual 
International  Christian  Endeavor  convention 
called  us  to  Montreal,  where  for  the  first 
time  the  United  Society  held  its  annual  meet- 
ing outside  the  borders  of  the  United  States. 
By  this  time  the  principles  and  methods  of  the  movement  were 
pretty  well  understood,  and  I  had  begun  to  feel  that  the  time 
had  come  to  voice  each  year,  if  possible,  in  my  annual  presi- 
dential address,  some  message  that  might  be  the  keynote,  or 
at  least  a  keynote  of  the  work  for  the  coming  year.  It  was 
to  be  adopted,  of  course,  only  so  far  as  it  appealed  to  the  com- 
mon sense  of  the  young  people  of  the  society,  and  was  approved 
by  their  pastors  and  churches. 

Already  the  insistent  whisperings  of  an  aroused  civic  con- 
science were  being  heard  throughout  the  land,  whisperings  that 
have  gained  in  volume  each  year  since,  and  have  sometimes  de- 
veloped into  loud  and  even  strident  shouts  for  reform.  It 
seemed  to  me  that  the  time  had  come  for  the  young  people  of 
our  churches  to  take  a  new  and  keener  interest  in  public  affairs, 
not  only  in  temperance,  to  which  they  were  already  committed, 
but  in  all  lines  of  good  citizenship.     So  I  proposed  in  my 

132 


CHRISTIAN    CITIZENSHIP    AND    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR        1 33 

annual  address  that  the  unions  form  good-citizenship  com- 
mittees, and  that  the  topics  relating  to  civic  righteousness 
should  find  a  place  upon  our  convention  and  local-union  pro- 
grammes, and  sometimes,  when  appropriate  to  a  religious 
meeting,  in  our  prayer-meeting  topics.^ 

The  idea  was  very  generally  taken  up,  and  now  few  meet- 
ings of  large  importance  are  considered  complete  if  such  topics 
are  left  entirely  out. 

The  tragedy  of  Robert  Ross,  an  Endeavorer  of  Troy,  New 
York,  who  was  killed  while  defending  the  polls  from  the  ballot- 
box  stuffers,  added  the  good  oil  of  righteous  indignation  to  the 
flames  already  kindled,  and  the  society  has  been  known  ever 
since  to  stand  foursquare  for  temperance,  good  citizenship,  and 
civic   righteousness. 

Some  attempts  have  been  made  to  use  it  for  political  pur- 
poses, on  the  plea  of  its  identification  with  moral  reform.  But 
these  attempts  have  come  to  naught,  for  common  sense  has 
taught  us  that  to  ally  the  society  with  any  one  political  party, 
however  noble  its  professions  and  platform,  would  defeat 
the  very  purpose  that  we  had  in  mind  and  introduce  unending 
wrangling  and  dissension.  This  attitude  has  sometimes  cost 
us  dear  for  the  time  being,  and  I  have  personally  been  the 
object  of  violent  vituperation  by  good  men  who  failed  to  see 
that  there  was  any  salvation  for  the  individual  or  for  the 
country  outside  of  their  party,  and  who  believed  that  all  who 
thought  otherwise  were  "  cowards  "  and  "  poltroons." 

A  possible  tragedy  which  ended  in  comedy,  if  not  in  roaring 
farce,  was  one  of  the  incidents  of  the  convention  in  Montreal. 
An  educated  and  eloquent  Hindu,  Mr.  Karmarkar  of  India, 
long  one  of  the  Endeavor  leaders  of  that  country,  in  an  ad- 
dress before  the  convention,  unwisely  compared  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion  with  Hinduism,  not  altogether  to  the  dis- 
advantage of  the  latter  religion.  The  speech  was  reported  m 
the  Montreal  paper  of  Catholic  proclivities  and  the  priests  in 
various  addresses  added  to  the  indignation  of  the  people.     So 


134  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

some  "  lewd  fellows  of  the  baser  sort  "  determined  to  clean  out 
the  whole  convention.  They  assembled  in  great  numbers  from 
the  lower  wards  of  the  city,  and  were  marching  in  strong  force 
upon  the  great  tent  where  the  meetings  were  held,  when  the 
police,  who  had  got  wind  of  their  proposed  attack  and  were 
prepared  for  it,  turned  a  mighty  stream  of  water  upon  the 
advancing  mob  from  sections  of  fire  hose  which  had  been 
connected  with  hyrants  at  strategic  points. 

The  rout  of  the  enemy  was  immediate  and  complete.  They 
could  not  stand  cold  water,  though  they  might  have  faced  the 
billies  of  the  police  officers.  The  angry  crowd  melted  away, 
and  the  students  of  McGill  University,  ardent  and  aggressive 
Protestants  as  they  were,  who  had  come  to  fight  the  mob  and 
defend  the  Endeavorers,  found  that  their  chief  duties  consisted 
in  escorting  the  pretty  girls  to  their  homes  and  boarding-houses. 

That  no  real  ill-feeling  was  created  by  the  incident  was 
shown  by  the  address  of  the  mayor  of  the  city,  himself  a 
Catholic,  who  had  welcomed  the  Endeavorers  to  Montreal, 
and  who,  afterwards,  at  a  farewell  banquet  on  Mount  Royal, 
congratulated  them  on  the  success  of  the  convention,  and  the 
good  which  he  believed  it  had  done  the  city. 

Though  it  was  natural  that,  during  all  these  years,  I  should 
find  the  duties  of  my  office  as  president  and  editor  largely 
absorbing  my  time  and  strength,  I  was  able  to  give  some  at- 
tention to  other  duties  as  well,  and  for  nine  years,  at  two  dif- 
ferent times,  I  was  a  member  of  the  Prudential  Committee  of 
the  American  Board,  a  committee  which  has  under  its  care 
the  vast  interests  in  all  the  world  of  this  great  missionary 
undertaking.  The  weekly  meeting  of  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee occupied  the  whole  of  every  Tuesday  afternoon,  and 
my  only  regret  is  that  frequent  absences  and  other  absorbing 
duties  when  at  home  prevented  me  from  giving  more  help 
to  the  important  tasks  of  the  committee. 

My  personal  acquaintance  with  the  missionaries  on  the  field, 
in  frequent  journeys  in  almost  all  parts  of  the  world,  however, 


CHRISTIAN    CITIZENSHIP    AND    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR         1 35 

made  up  in  some  degree  for  the  scant  time  I  could  give  to  the 
regular  meetings  in  Boston,  for  at  the  time  of  my  first  jour- 
ney around  the  world  no  officer  of  the  Board  or  member  of  the 


HON.    SAMUEL    B.    CAPEN 

The  most  eminent  Congregational  layman,  President  of  the  Prudential  Committee 
of  the  American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Thirteen, 
Boston  Convention  of  Christian  Endeavor,  which  numhered  over  56,000  delegates. 

Prudential    Committee    had    visited    the    mission    stations    on 
the  far  foreign  fields  of  India  for  more  than  thirty  years. 


136  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

I  have  always  been  glad  to  have  been  associated  during 
these  years  with  the  Christian  statesmen  who  managed  the 
affairs  of  the  American  Board.  Though  this  was  largely  the 
period  of  theological  controversy  and  high,  and,  sometimes, 
bitter  feeling  between  the  older  elements  and  more  "  ad- 
vanced "  (theologically)  constituents  of  the  Board,  I  recog- 
nized in  these  men  who  then  had  control,  not  only  sterling 
Christian  character,  but  a  genuine  self-sacrificing  devotion  to 
what  they  believed  were  its  best  interests. 

Dr.  Thompson,  the  chairman  of  the  committee.  Dr.  Alden, 
the  able  financial  secretary.  Dr.  Plumb,  and  Dr.  Webb,  all 
were  genial  and  courteous,  but  unbending  in  their  devotion 
to  the  evangelical,  orthodox  doctrines  which  they  believed  the 
Board  was  founded  to  establish. 

With  the  administration  of  the  missionary  statesmen  who 
have  succeeded  them,  Dr.  James  L.  Barton,  whose  experience 
on  the  field  so  well  fitted  him  for  his  present  post,  the  honored 
and  beloved  Samuel  B.  Capen,  a  constant  and  enthusiastic 
friend  of  the  Endeavor  movement,  the  greatest  layman  of  his 
generation,  and  others,  I  had  a  shorter  experience  on  the  Pru- 
dential Committee,  but  one  no  less  valuable  to  myself.  One 
of  the  advantages  of  an  interest  in  foreign  missions,  which  is 
not  always  recognized,  is  the  broad  and  sympathetic  outlook 
that  it  necessarily  gives  of  the  world,  its  needs,  its  sufferings, 
and  its  only  means  of  healing  and  health. 


Chapter  XIV 
Years   1885-1922 

TRUE    YOKEFELLOWS 

SOME     OF      MY     FELLOW-WORKERS GOD's      CHOSEN      MEN 

WHERE    AND    HOW    THEY    WERE     FOUND WHAT    THEY 

HAVE    DONE MANY   UNNAMED   WORKERS THE    HAND 

OF  PROVIDENCE 

F  THIS  were  a  history  of  the  Christian  En- 
I  deavor  movement  I  should  have  much  to 
r  say  about  my  colleagues  in  the  United  Soci- 
^  ety,  in  the  State  unions,  and  in  many  foreign 
countries,  who  have  done  so  much  to  make  the 
society  a  powerful  factor  in  the  religious  life 
of  the  world.  I  cannot  even  mention  a  hundredth  part  of 
them  by  name,  but  I  cannot  fail  to  speak  of  a  few  who  have 
been  closely  associated  with  me  for  years  in  the  office  of  the 
United  Society.  No  stronger  token  of  the  favor  of  God  upon 
the  movement  could  be  asked  for  than  the  Providential  way 
in  which  a  number  of  young  men  have  been  led  to  associate 
themselves  with  our  work:  young  men  of  keen  intellects,  wide 
sympathies,  large  executive  ability,  and  unusual  devotion  to 
the  Master. 

In  1890  we  were  in  great  need  of  a  general  secretary.  The 
first  secretary,  my  classmate,  Rev.  S.  W.  Adriance,  a  most  de- 
voted and  lovable  Christian  man,  was  unable  to  leave  his 
church,  and  continued  in  office  but  a  few  weeks.  He  was 
succeeded  by  a  brilliant  young  layman,  George  M. 
Ward.     When  he  resigned  after  a  short  term  of  office,  we 

137 


Ira  Landrith,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
Extension  Secretary 


Pal-i,  c. 


Brohn 


^^^'■fic  Coast  Secr"e 


tary 


Clarence  C.  Hamilton 

National  Field  Secretary  and  Circulation 

Manager,  C.  E.  World 


•RoDERlc 


.    jV.  W'Al*^'^'- 


uger  \Ves«^" 


Oftce 


Secretaries  Afield 
United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor 


Edward  P.  Gates 
General  Secretary 


■^-  M  orid 


Alvin  J.  Shartle 
Treasurer  and  Publication  Manager 


p.    ANDEKSON 

^'"'         ■,\  Secretary 
Editorial  seci 


Officers 
United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor 


TRUE    YOKEFELLOWS 


141 


knew  not  where  to  look  for  his  successor.  The  work  was  new, 
and  there  had  been  little  time  to  develop  expert  Endeavorers. 
I  had  heard  of  a  young  man  in  a  small  city  of  Minnesota, 
who  had  had  a  remarkable  religious  experience,  and  was  de- 
voting himself  heart  and  soul  to  the  Christian  Endeavor  cause 
in  his  own  church,  and  especially  to  the  work  among  the 
Juniors.  I  had  a  strong  impression,  an  impression  that  came 
from  above,  I  believe,  that  he  was  the  man  of  all  others  whom 
we  needed  at  that  crisis  of  the  society's  affairs.     I  journeyed 


Secretary    John    Willis    Baer,    and    Mrs.    Baer.      Also    their    children, 
Francis  Shaw,  George  Van  Dusen,  and  Mildred. 
Photograph  taken  about  1890 

1,500  miles  on  purpose  to  see  him  in  his  home,  came  back  with 
my  impression  confirmed,  and  soon  John  Willis  Baer  was  in- 
ducted into  the  secretarial  office.  The  choice  proved  most 
happy,  and  the  ready  gift  of  speech,  interesting  personality, 
and  real  devotion  of  Mr.  Baer  made  him  for  eleven  years  not 
only  one  of  the  most  popular  young  men  in  the  country,  but 
a  successful  leader  of  the  rapidly  growing  Endeavor  hosts. 


142  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

In  the  year  1892,  it  was  "borne  in  upon  me,"  according 
to  the  phrase  of  the  old  theologians,  that  we  must  have  an 
efficient  man  in  the  editorial  office  of  The  Golden  Rule, 
as  managing  editor.  My  necessarily  frequent  absences  made 
it  out  of  the  question  for  me  to  give  the  time  that  ought  to  be 
given  to  the  details  of  the  paper,  and  though  we  had  had  one 
or  two  efficient  young  ladies  as  my  assistants,  the  growing  cir- 
culation and  importance  of  the  paper  demanded  still  another 
editor.  Before  my  journeys  abroad,  or  to  the  far  west,  I  had 
been  accustomed  to  write  up  a  large  number  of  editorials  and 
weekly  articles  in  advance,  but  these  could  scarcely  have  the 
timely  appropriateness  to  all  conditions  that  might  arise. 

I  had  been  much  interested  by  the  articles  of  a  prolific  young 
writer  named  Amos  R.  Wells,  who  had  contributed,  not  only 
to  The  Golden  Rule,  but  whose  articles  I  had  seen  in  The 
Sunday  School  Times,  and  other  papers.  There  was  a  bright- 
ness and  pungency  to  his  articles,  and  they  indicated  a  fund  of 
common  sense  as  well,  which  seemed  to  me  to  promise  large 
things  for  the  future.  I  had  the  opportunity  of  meeting  him 
at  a  convention  at  Yellow  Springs,  O.j  he  was  a  professor  of 
the  Greek  language  and  literature  in  Antioch  College,  living 
on  what  he  called  a  "  small  and  precarious  salary." 

However  successful  as  professor  of  Greek,  his  destiny  evi- 
dently lay  along  the  line  of  literature,  and  he  was  soon  per- 
suaded to  become  the  managing  editor  of  The  Golden  Rule 
and  to  be  my  neighbor  in  Auburndale.  The  seventy  book- 
titles  that  Mr.  Wells,  now  Litt.D.  and  LL.D.  Wells,  has  to 
his  credit,  and  his  multitudinous  articles  of  all  kinds  in  periodi- 
cals, grave  and  gay,  serious  and  humorous,  have  spoken  for 
themselves  to  a  host  of  readers,  and  I  need  not  characterize 
him  further.  He  is  now  editor-in-chief  and  part  owner  of 
The  Christian  Endeavor  World,  while  I  have  relegated  my- 
self to  the  honorary  editor's  shelf,  with  no  responsibility  for 
or  interest  in  the  financial  side  of  the  paper. 

The  same  good  hand  of  Providence  has  been  shown  in  the 


TRUE    YOKEFELLOWS  143 

advent  of  many  others  in  the  official   ranks  of  Christian  En- 
deavor.    I  have  already  spoken  of  Dr.  William  Shaw,  and, 
were  there  space,  I  would  write  more  at  length  of  Arthur  W. 
Kelly,   Rev.   John   F,    Cowan,   noted   for   his   Sunday-school 
lessons,   and   Rev.    R.   P.    Anderson,   our   editorial    secretary, 
a  prolific  writer  on  many  subjects,  whom  I  first  met  in  Christi- 
ania   in    1905,   as   related   elsewhere  j    of   Charles   S.    Brown, 
who     has     furnished     many    excellent     Christian     Endeavor 
tunes;    of    George    B.    Graff,    who    efficiently    managed    the 
publication   department   of   the   society   for   many   years;    of 
Hiram  N.  Lathrop,  who  was  also  for  many  years  our  genial 
treasurer,     I  would  also  like  to  write  at  length  of  Mr.  A.  J. 
Shartle,  the  present  treasurer  and  publication  manager,  reliable, 
conscientious,  and  enterprising  in  managing  the  finances  of  the 
society;  of  our  Associate  President,  Dr.  Daniel  A.  Poling,  elo- 
quent, winning,  and  popular  as  are  few  young  men  in  America, 
who  combines  within  himself  so  many  sterling  and  attractive 
qualities,  and  who,  I  rejoice  to  say,  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
nature,  has  most  of  his  life  before  him,  instead  of  behind  him, 
as  in  my  case;  of  Dr.  Ira  Landrith,  one  of  the  latest  accessions 
to  our  official  forces,  known  far  and  wide,  in  the  East  and  West 
and  North  and  South,  as  one  of  the  most  persuasive  orators 
of  the  day,  welcomed  on  every  Chautauqua  platform,  as  well 
as  at  every  Christian  Endeavor  convention.     All  these  men 
are  still  in  the  active  service  of  Christain  Endeavor,  and  it  is 
too  soon  to  write  their  biographies. 

Some  of  the  men  of  whom  I  have  spoken  when,  as  they 
thought,  they  had  finished  their  best  work  as  Christian  En- 
deavor leaders,  have  been  called  to  other  distinguished  tasks. 
George  M.  Ward,  the  first  secretary,  became  president  of 
Wells  College,  New  York  State,  and  afterwards  of  Rollins 
College,  Florida.  John  Willis  Baer  was  for  ten  years  the 
successful  president  of  Occidental  College  in  California,  and 
is  now  a  financial  magnate  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  He  was  the 
first  lay  moderator  of   the  Presbyterian   General   Assembly. 


144  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Von  Ogden  Vogt  is  the  honored  pastor  of  a  church  in  Chicago, 
and  author  of  a  notable  book  on  church  architecture. 
William  T.  Ellis,  once  assistant  editor  of  The  Christian  En- 
deavor Worlds  is  known  throughout  the  country  as  a  traveller, 
writer,  and  lecturer  of  unusual  merit  j  while  George  W.  Cole- 
man, for  many  years  advertising  manager  of  The  Christian 
Endeavor  World,  is  the  well-known  founder  of  the  "  Ford 


George  W.  Coleman 

Hall  Meetings,"  and  the  "  Father  of  the  Open  Forum,"  as 
well  as  a  rising  statesman,  whom  the  reform  element  of  Boston 
sent  to  the  city  council,  of  which  he  soon  became  president. 
He  was  at  one  time  acting  mayor  of  Boston. 

Another  most  fortunate  choice  was  that  of  E.  P.  Gates  as 
general-secretary  in  1919.  He  had  long  been  the  very  suc- 
cessful secretary  of  the  Illinois  union,  and  his  promotion  to  the 


TRUE    YOKEFELLOWS  145 

position  of  general-secretary,  when  a  vacancy  occurred,  was 
inevitable.  Keen,  alert,  popular  with  all,  indomitable  in 
energy,  he  cultivates  no  side  issues,  but  makes  Christian  En- 
deavor the  passion  of  his  life.  Rev.  Stanley  Vandersall,  too, 
attends  conscientiously  and  untiringly  to  the  new  Alumni  De- 
partment of  which  he  is  the  head. 

The  hand  of  Providence  has  been  equally  shown  in  the 
choice  of  field  secretaries  in  many  States.  I  need  only  mention 
the  names  of  a  few  such  long-time  workers  in  these  lines  as  the 
devoted  Paul  Brown  of  California,  now  the  national  Intermedi- 
ate secretary  of  the  United  Society  j  Roy  Breg  of  Texas,  who  has 
done  so  much  for  Christian  Endeavor  in  the  Southwest,  and 
Charles  Evans  of  Kentucky,  the  beloved  Southern  field  secre- 
tary, who  have  already  devoted  years  not  a  few  to  this  service. 
Other  names  come  readily  to  my  pen's  point,  —  of  those 
who  have  done  and  are  doing  much  for  Christian  En- 
deavor: —  Eberman,  the  deeply  spiritual  secretary  of  the 
United  Society,  who  gave  his  life  to  the  cause  while  travelling 
in  its  interests  J  Farrill  of  Wisconsin,  and  others  who  have  gone 
to  their  reward. 

I  cannot  make  my  book  a  catalogue  of  names  though  I  might, 
were  there  space,  record  hundreds  of  those  who  in  ofiice  or 
out  have  not  spared  themselves  and  who  have  contributed 
largely  to  the  success  of  Christian  Endeavor  also 5  young  ladies 
not  a  few  in  the  headquarters  ofiice  as  personal  secretaries  or 
workers  in  various  departments,  and  a  multitude  in  the  field 
who  have  served  as  State  and  local-union  presidents,  secretaries, 
and  chairmen  of  committees.  How  can  I  express  the  gratitude 
of  the  cause  to  these  voluntary,  unsalaried,  unwearied  workers? 
I  believe  I  have  proved  my  point  that  the  men  and  women 
whom  God  has  called  to  the  front,  prove  that  the  Endeavor 
movement  during  all  these  years  had  been  the  object  of  His 
special  care. 

It  has  often  seemed  as  though  the  one  man  of  all  others  who 
was  capable  of  establishing  and  extending  the  movement  after 


146  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

it  had  been  inaugurated  in  the  different  countries,  has  been 
found,  and,  did  space  allow,  I  could  point  to  more  than  a  score 
of  such  instances,  where  we  have  been  led  to  approach  exactly 
the  right  person  for  leadership. 

The  fact  is,  I  suppose,  that  the  principles  and  methods 
of  the  society  have  attracted  to  it  a  certain  type  of  men  and 
women  who,  when  approached,  have  been  willing  to  give  their 
time  and  strength  to  its  development,  but  in  this  I  see  no  less 
clearly  the  hand  of  God.  To  these  men  and  women  the 
success  and  rapid  growth  of  the  movement  are  due. 

The  board  of  trustees  of  the  United  Society,  representing  the 
different  denominations,  is  a  proof  of  this  same  natural  and 
divine  selection.  Dr.  Floyd  Tomkins,  the  eminent  rector  of 
the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Philadelphia,  is  the  one  man 
in  all  the  country  who  can  best  lead  young  people  to  the 
spiritual  table-lands  of  entire  consecration  and  devotion,  as 
he  has  done  at  hundreds  of  conventions  and  local-union  meet- 
ings. The  eloquent  and  lamented  Drs.  Wayland  Hoyt  and 
P.  S.  Henson,  leaders  in  the  Baptist  denomination,  were  never 
too  busy  to  travel  long  distances  to  our  conventions  and  to  give 
us  their  ripest  thought.  Dr.  Howard  B.  Grose,  of  the  same 
denomination,  the  vice-president  of  the  United  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor,  has  often  contributed  of  his  wit  and  wis- 
dom to  many  conventions.  Dr.  Davici  James  Burrell  of  the 
Dutch  Reformed  Church,  has  contributed  both  poetry  and 
prose  and  eloquence  of  the  highest  order  to  our  conventions. 
Dr.  John  Henry  Barrows,  the  president  of  Oberlin  College, 
and  one  of  the  "  spell-binders  "  of  the  American  pulpit,  was 
seldom  absent  from  our  great  gatherings,  and  I  shall  never 
forget  how,  at  a  consecration  meeting,  the  settee  at  which  we 
were  both  kneeling,  shook  with  his  unrestrained  emotion,  as, 
one  after  another,  the  young  men  and  women  renewed  their 
consecration  to  the  Master. 

Two  or  three  so-called  "  retreats  "  will  also  long  stand  out  in 
my  memory,  especially  one  at  Lakewood,  N.  J.,  where  we 


TRUE    YOKEFELLOWS  1 49 

gathered  as  trustees  of  the  United  Society,  and  where  such 
men  as  Dr.  Tomkins,  and  Dr.  Burrell,  and  Dr.  Stewart  of 
Auburn  Seminary,  Dr.  Dickinson  of  Boston,  and  other  eminent 
leaders  of  different  denominations,  told  in  that  intimate  and 
sacred  service  their  hearts'  deepest  experiences. 

Dr.  Cleland  B.  McAfee,  one  of  the  well-known  brothers 
to  whom  the  Presbyterian  denomination  and  American  Chris- 
tianity generally  are  indebted,  is  also  one  of  our  active  trustees, 
as  are  Dr.  E.  Bourner  Allen  and  President  Henry  Churchill 
King,  honored  Congregationalists.  The  venerable  Bishop 
Fallows,  recently  deceased,  was  beloved  of  all  Americans,  Up 
to  the  time  of  his  death  in  his  eighty-seventh  year,  he  was  active 
in  every  good  cause.  John  Wanamaker,  known  wherever  the 
English  language  is  spoken,  is  also  a  distinguished  member  of 
this  body.  The  latter  was  chosen  when  he  was  Postmaster 
General  of  the  United  States.  I  might,  if  there  were  space, 
mention  many  others  no  less  distinguished,  who  ornament  and 
strengthen  our  board  of  trustees. 

One  of  the  most  versatile  and  interesting  of  the  men  with 
whom  I  was  thus  brought  in  contact,  as  a  trustee  of  the  United 
Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  was  President  William  R. 
Harper  of  Chicago  University,  so  honored  in  life,  so  heroic 
in  his  lingering  illness  and  death.  At  the  time  when  I  knew 
him  best  he  was  a  professor  at  Yale.  He  was  the  only  man 
I  ever  knew  who  could  make  the  study  of  Hebrew  interesting. 
An  hour  in  one  of  his  class-rooms  was  more  entertaining  than 
—  what  shall  I  say  —  an  hour  at  the  movies?  The  compari- 
son seems  trifling.  He  was  a  man  who  apparently  could  do 
without  sleep,  who  could  work  twenty  hours  a  day,  and  yet  was 
never  driven  by  his  work,  or  seemed  too  busy  to  see  a  friend. 
I  remember  calling  on  him  once  at  New  Haven,  and  as  the 
train  for  Boston  did  not  leave  till  one  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
I  prepared  at  a  reasonably  early  hour,  to  go  to  the  station  to 
wait  for  my  train.  But  he  would  not  hear  of  it,  but  insisted 
on  my  staying  at  his  home,  saying  that  he  never  went  to  bed 


150  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

before  one  or  two  o'clock,  and  he  wanted  to  have  our  talk  out. 
Then  he  went  to  the  station  with  me,  and  would  not  leave  until 
my  train  started  for  Boston. 

In  foreign  countries,  too,  the  good  hand  of  the  Lord  has 
been  no  less  evident  in  the  choice  of  leaders  for  the  Christian 
Endeavor  cause,  but  of  these  I  shall  often  speak  in  connection 
with  my  journeys  in  these  lands. 


Chapter  XV 
Years  i 876-1922 

A  SHORT   CHAPTER   ON   RECREATIONS 

THE      MAINE     WOODS A      MEMORABLE      CANOE      TRIP THE 

LITTLE   BACKWOODS  GIRL 

OR  the  successive  editions  o£  the  biographical 
dictionary  called  Who's  Who?  that  is  pub- 
lished in  London,  I  am  asked  year  by  year 
what  is  my  favorite  recreation,  and  formerly 
1  had  no  hesitation  in  replying  that  it  was 
camping  in  the  Maine  woods  and  fishing  in 
the  Maine  lakes.  Perhaps  if  I  should  go  into  particulars,  1 
should  have  to  confess  that  the  humble  game  of  quoits  is,  in  my 
opinion,  quite  as  good  as  fashionable  golf,  and  does  not  take 
nearly  so  much  time,  though  perhaps  my  opinion  may  be  partly 
accounted  for  by  my  lack  of  proficiency  in  the  latter  sport. 
Lawn  tennis  became  popular  after  my  youthful  days,  and  1 
have  never  understood  it  well. 

I  think  I  might  in  my  youth  have  made  a  baseball  "  fan  " 
had  time  and  opportunity  allowed  me  more  frequently  to  visit 
the  bleachers,  for  there  are  few  things  more  genuinely  exciting 
than  a  game  of  baseball  between  two  well-matched  and  pro- 
ficient teams.  The  alertness  of  the  players,  their  eagerness 
and  marvellous  skill,  and  the  fact  that  every  nerve  of  their 
bodies,  and  every  drop  of  blood  in  their  veins,  seems  to  be 
commandeered  for  the  game,  makes  of  it  an  exhibition  of  a 
certain  kind  of  human  prowess  which  can  scarcely  be  excelled. 
In  my  early  days,  "  Two  Old  Cat "  and  "  Barn  Ball  "  were 
thought  to  exhaust  the  possibilities   of  baseball.      However, 

151 


152  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN     MANY    LANDS 

this  game,  too,  has  been  developed  in  later  years  when  many 
cares  and  duties  have  prevented  me  from  becoming  proficient 
in  its  technicalities  or  even  its  nomenclature. 

Of  late  years  I  have  found  abundant  joy  and  recreation  on 
my  old  farm,  in  watching  "  green  things  growing,"  in  the 
idiosyncracies  of  hens  and  chickens,  cow  and  calf,  pigs  and 
goats,  and  in  the  lovelier  antics  and  flirtations  of  the  "  fowls  of 


fe-,. 


Camping  in  Maine 
Crossing  Pleasant  River  to  our  camp  in  the  Maine  woods.      Dr.  James  L.  Hill,  Rev. 
S.  W.  Adriance,  Dr.  C.  F.  Bradley,  and  Dr.  Clark  and  Guide  on  buckboard. 

the  air."  For  six  months  in  the  year  ocean  bathing  and  swim- 
ming is  a  daily  recreation  with  me  up  to  the  present,  and  one 
which  I  hope  never  to  get  too  old  to  enjoy. 

To  return  to  the  Maine  woods,  I  cannot  do  better  perhaps 
than  describe  one  vacation  trip  which  was  typical  of  a  score 
of  others  which  gave  me  renewed  vigor,  year  after  year. 

The  most  memorable  trip  of  all  was  one  with  Dr.  Charles 


A    SHORT    CHAPTER    ON    RECREATION  1 53 

A.  Dickinson,  my  old  friend  and  colleague  in  Portland  and 
Boston,  and  President  Charles  F.  Thwing  of  Western  Reserve 
University  and  Adelbert  College.  We  started  from  the  fur- 
ther side  of  Moosehead  Lake  on  the  West  Branch  of  the  Pen- 
obscot for  a  canoe  trip  of  two  hundred  miles  through  the  many 
lakes  of  the  Allegash  waters  and  down  the  St.  John  River  into 
New  Brunswick.  Three  guides,  three  canoes,  and  a  sufficient 
store  of  eatables,  together  with  a  tent,  constituted  our  outfit. 
A  more  delightful  fortnight  I  never  spent.  Sometimes  our 
canoes  would  take  us  down  the  still  .waters  of  an  almost  stag- 
nant thoroughfare.  Again  we  would  have  to  cross  a  large  lake 
in  the  teeth  of  a  gale  of  wind,  but  most  exciting  of  all  was 
the  running  of  the  rapids,  when  it  seemed  every  minute  as 
though  the  canoe  would  be  swallowed  up  in  the  boiling  water, 
or  dash  itself  to  destruction  against  some  gigantic  boulder,  only 
to  be  turned,  just  in  the  nick  of  time,  by  the  flexible  wrist  of 
the  guide  who  handled  the  paddle  in  the  stern. 

At  one  clearing,  forty  miles  from  any  other  habitation,  a 
woman  in  distress  came  down  to  the  shore  and  begged  us  to 
carry  her  out  to  civilization.  This  we  could  not  do  of  course, 
not  wishing  to  be  arrested  for  wife-stealing,  but,  when  she 
changed  her  plea,  and  asked  us  to  take  one  of  the  children 
out  with  us  we  agreed  to  do  so  if  the  father  was  willing.  It 
proved  that  he  "  did  not  care  a  hang,"  though  I  am  not  sure 
that  "  hang  "  was  the  word  he  used,  and  we  took  her  in  one  of 
the  canoes.  It  must  have  been  that  we  did  this  at  the  instigation 
of  Dr.  Dickinson,  whose  warm  heart  always  prompted  him  to 
relieve  those  in  distress,  especially  the  children,  however  much 
it  might  cost  him.  He  gave  his  address  to  the  mother,  letting 
her  know  how  she  might  always  hear  from  her  child,  and  with 
this  addition  to  our  passenger  list  we  started  on  the  last  hun- 
dred miles  of  the  voyage.  The  little  girl  proved  to  be  an  apt 
scholar,  and  learned  her  letters  before  the  trip  was  over  from 
an   illustrated   handkerchief   which   happened   to   be   in   our 


154 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 


When  she  saw  her  first  trani  of  cars,  on  the  New  Bruns- 
wick shore,  as  we  paddled  down  the  St.  John,  and  heard  the 
engine  shriek,  she  was  struck  dumb  with  amazement,  and 
cried  out,  "  Do  you  suppose  that  thing  will  ever  holler  again?  " 
evidently  thinking  it  was  some  bull  of  Bashan  that  had  in- 
vaded the  solitudes  of  New  Brunswick. 


Camp  Dean 
In  the  Maine  Woods  on  the  Carrying  Place  Pond. 

We  were  able  to  add  something  to  her  exceedingly  scanty 
wardrobe  before  we  reached  our  summer  home  on  the  coast  of 
Maine,  where  the  ladies  of  our  families  took  charge  of  "  the 
little  heathen,"  who  had  never  heard  the  name  of  God  except 
"  when  Daddy  damned  him."  For  some  time  Dr.  Dickinson 
kept  her  in  his  own  family  together  with  other  orphan  children 
whom  he  had  adopted,  and  afterwards  placed  her  in  a  happy 
and  very  comfortable  home  where  she  grew  up  to  be  an  intel- 
ligent and  well-favored  young  woman. 


Chapter  XVI 
Years  i  892-1 922 

CONCERNING  INTERPRETERS  AND  INTER- 
PRETATION 

HOW  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  STARTED  IN  CONTINENTAL 
EUROPE INTERPRETERS  OR  INTERRUPTERS A  LUDI- 
CROUS TRANSLATION  THE  ABILITY  OF  JAPANESE  IN- 
TERPRETERS. 

HE  early  days  of  1894  found  me  in  the  grip 
of  the  Grippe,  a  persistent  enemy  that  has 
more  than  once  laid  me  low,  and  brought  a 
long  list  of  ills  in  its  train,  chiefly  a  nervous 
exhaustion  which  I  have  often  tried  to  fight 
too  long  and  have  had  to  acknowledge  ig- 
nominiously  at  last  as  the  victor.  This  prevented  me  from 
attending  the  International  Christian  Endeavor  Convention  in 
Cleveland  that  year,  and  made  me  for  months  an  unwilling 
and  somewhat  rebellious  prisoner  in  my  Auburndale  home. 
But  there  was  perhaps  a  Providence  in  this  as  well  as  in  so 
many  other  seeming  ills,  for  it  sent  me  to  Europe  in  the  early 
fall  in  search  of  health,  a  journey  which  resulted  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  in  many  of  the 
continental  countries. 

While  gaining  health  and  strength  in  the  delicious  brac- 
ing climate  of  Switzerland,  a  letter  came  to  me  from  a  young 
German  pastor,  Herr  Blecher  by  name,  who  desired  to  know 
more  of  the  Society,  something  about  it  having  already  ap- 
peared in  the  German  papers.  As  in  so  many  other  instances, 
he  proved  to  be  exactly  the  man  of  all  others  to  spread  the 

15s 


156  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

idea  throughout  his  own  country.  With  flaming  enthusiasm 
and  apostolic  zeal,  and  a  face  shining  with  the  joy  of  his 
message,  he  went  everywhere  and  enlisted  everybody  who 
would  listen,  as  he  told  of  this  method  of  Christian  nurture. 

From  Germany  the  news  of  the  work  spread  to  the  Scandi- 
navian countries,  to  Russian  Poland  and  Russia  proper,  to 
Austria  and  Hungary,  to  German  Switzerland,  and  to  some  of 
the  Balkan  states,  though  the  American  missionaries  in  Bo- 
hemia, Bulgaria,  and  Macedonia  ,were  most  efficient  in  estab- 
lishing the  societies  in  those  countries. 

In  the  Latin  countries,  France  and  Italy  and  Spain,  the  work 
had  a  different  origin.  Mrs.  Gulick,  Spain's  great  American 
educator,  of  whom  I  have  already  spoken,  was  responsible 
for  its  development  in  the  Iberian  Peninsula,  while  the  first 
societies  in  France  were  started  in  the  McAll  Mission. 

Either  on  this  visit  or  an  earlier  one,  I  forget  which,  I  was 
invited  by  the  venerable  Dr.  McAll  to  visit  him  in  his  home  in 
Paris  to  explain  the  working  of  the  society.  It  was  toward 
the  end  of  his  life.  He  was  old  and  feeble,  and  seemed 
harassed  with  a  multitude  of  the  details  of  his  mission,  but  his 
first  assistant  and  successor,  Mr.  Greig,  warmly  welcomed  the 
society  and  declared  that  it  was  the  exact  thing  that  he  had  been 
especially  longing  and  praying  for  on  the  very  day  of  my  visit, 
of  which  he  had  not  been  previously  informed. 

Theodore  Monod,  the  eloquent  preacher  and  beloved  pastor 
of  the  then  Established  Reformed  church,  Henri  Merle 
D'Aubigne,  the  nephew  of  the  eminent  church  historian,  and 
Pere  Hyacinthe,  whose  name  was  at  that  time  a  household 
word  throughout  France  because  of  his  break  with  the  Catholic 
church,  were  all  friends  of  the  movement,  though  Father 
Hyacinthe  seemed  to  keep  much  of  his  interest  in  his  wife's 
name,  where  the  Jew  kept  his  religion.  I  fear,  also,  that 
Madame  Hyacinthe's  interest  largely  centred  in  her  anti- 
tobacco  crusade,  and  that  it  cooled  when  she  found  that  the 
society  could  not  be  used  exclusively  to  this  end. 


CONCERNING  INTERPRETERS  AND  INTERPRETATION    1 57 

This  development  of  the  work  throughout  the  continent 
has  called  for  many  visits  to  its  different  countries  during  the 
last  twenty-five  years  or  more,  visits  which  I  cannot  describe  in 
detail  lest  my  narrative  prove  wearisome,  but  I  shall  pick  out 
a  few  incidents  here  and  there,  which  may  prove  of  interest. 

My  visits  to  Germany  were  full  of  joy  before  the  war,  so 
hearty  and  enthusiastic  had  been  the  reception  of  the  cause 
that  I  represented,  and  again  they  were  resumed,  I  rejoice  to 
say,  in  1922,  with  equal  pleasure  to  myself  and  friendliness  on 
the  part  of  the  people.  "  How  the  hats  blew  uf  and  the  hand- 
kerchiefs waved,"  wrote  a  German  friend,  struggling  with 
English,  in  describing  one  of  the  conventions.  Writing  of  an- 
other convention  speaker,  he  declared  "  we  were  delighted  to 
have  Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer  in  our  middles."  But  these  very 
natural  slips  in  "  English  as  she  is  wrote  "  only  warned  me  of 
the  far  more  terrible  blunders  that  I  should  make  if  I  attempted 
to  speak  in  a  foreign  tongue.  Wisely  I  have  never  attempted 
it,  but  have  always  addressed  my  audiences  through  inter- 
preters, except  in  English-speaking  countries,  and  have  had 
occasion  to  seek  the  kind  offices  of  interpreters  hi  some  forty 
different  languageSy  twenty  of  them  in  Europe  alone.  Until 
one  counts  them  up  it  seems  difficult  to  believe  that  so  many 
languages  are  spoken  on  that  little  continent. 

On  the  whole  I  have  not  found  my  interpreters  "  inter- 
rupters," as  Joseph  Cook  was  accustomed  to  call  them,  though 
I  have  sometimes  had  occasion  to  recall  Maltbie  Babcock's 
definition  of  speaking  through  an  interpreter  as  "  a  compound 
fracture  of  speech,  followed  by  mortification." 

For  the  most  part  my  interpreters  deserve  my  sincerest 
thanks  and  warmest  praise,  for  the  heartiness  and  enthusiasm 
which  they  have  thrown  into  their  translation,  often  leading 
me  to  feel  that  they  were  making  a  far  better  speech  than  I 
myself  could  have  made.  Sometimes  however  the  experience 
is  excruciating  as  when  one's  interpreter  attempts  to  give  a 
literal,  word-for-word  translation,  with  little  regard  for  the 


158  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

connection,  or  the  idioms  of  his  own  language.  Sometimes  he 
has  had  the  barest  nodding  acquaintance  with  the  English 
language,  but  has  attacked  his  job  as  though  he  had  the  vocab- 
ulary of  a  Shakspeare.  In  such  cases  the  blank  and  wearied 
look  of  the  audience,  or  their  interpolations  5  "  he  did  not 
say  that,  he  said  this,"  and  etc.,  and  etc.,  tell  me  what  a  mess  he 
is  making  of  the  whole  thing. 

Sometimes  the  mistakes  of  the  interpreter  are  ludicrous,  as 
when  in  Japan  an  eminent  professor  was  translating  an  ad- 
dress of  Mrs.  Clark's.  In  the  course  of  it  she  remarked  that 
we  were  like  a  couple  of  carrier  pigeons  flying  around  the  world 
and  alighting  here  and  there,  with  messages  from  friends. 
Not  being  acquainted  with  these  birds,  and  supposing  they  were 
some  kind  of  gallinaceous  fowls,  the  professor  gravely  told  his 
andience  that  we  were  "  like  a  rooster  and  a  hen,  flying  around 
the  .world  and  lighting  here  and  there."  The  missionaries  who 
understood  both  languages  were  audibly  amused. 

As  a  rule  I  have  found  that  the  more  remote  the  language 
is  from  English,  philologically,  the  better  the  interpreters. 
Thus  the  translators  that  I  have  had  in  Japan,  Russia,  and  the 
other  Slavic  countries  have  often  been  better  than  in  the  lands 
whose  languages  are  allied  to  English.  I  have  stood  in  my 
stocking  feet  on  many  a  platform  in  Japan  while  the  wind 
whistled  through  the  paper  walls,  but  happy  and  content, 
knowing  that  the  brother  by  my  side  would  enter  into  the  very 
heart  of  my  address,  would  gesticulate  and  perspire  with  his 
task,  and  would  make  a  deeper  impression  upon  his  andience 
than  I  could  hope  to  have  made,  even  if  all  had  understood 
English. 

Thinking  I  would  test  my  friend.  Rev.  Mr.  Miyake,  who 
interpreted  for  me  in  various  parts  of  Japan,  I  inserted  in  the 
middle  of  a  long  paragraph  (for  he  had  asked  me  to  speak  for 
five  minutes  or  more  at  a  time  without  interruption),  a  verse  of 
a  familiar  hymn,  which  had  been  translated,  as  I  knew,  for  the 
Japanese  hymn  book.      I   wondered  how  he  would  struggle 


o 

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CONCERNING  INTERPRETERS  AND  INTERPRETATION    l6l 

with  the  rhyme  and  metre  of  poetry.  Quick  as  a  flash  he 
picked  up  the  Japanese  hymn  book,  turned  to  the  familiar 
hymn,  and,  when  he  came  to  the  right  place  in  the  translation, 
read  the  verse  in  its  flowing  Japanese  version.  From  that 
time  I  never  doubted  Mr.  Miyake^s  skill  and  accuracy  as  an 
interpreter.  Rev.  T.  Sawaya,  long  the  efiicient  secretary  of  the 
Japanese  Christian  Endeavor  union,  was  an  equally  good  and 
even  more  dramatic  interpreter. 

The  art  of  speaking  through  an  interpreter  consists  in  know- 
ing exactly  what  you  want  to  say,  and  saying  it  in  simple, 
concrete  terms,  avoiding  involved  and  obscure  sentences,  im- 
aginative flights  and  great  attempts  at  eloquence.  I  have  seen 
interpreters  perspire  and  grow  red  in  the  face  and  then  give  it 
up  altogether  when  a  speaker  involved  him  in  some  metaphy- 
sical distinction,  quoted  a  Bro.wningese  poem,  or  attempted  a 
pun  which  had  absolutely  no  equivalent  in  any  other  language. 
Anyone  who  indulges  in  such  efforts  ought  to  be  indicted  for 
cruelty  to  interpreters. 

To  speak  with  the  aid  of  one  interpreter  is  by  no  means  a 
harrowing  experience,  but  when  one  has  to  have  two  or  more 
for  the  same  sentence  the  task  is  more  wearisome.  Once  when 
in  South  Africa,  visiting  the  famous  Chiefs'  School  at  Love- 
dale  at  the  invitation  of  the  beloved  Doctor  James  Stuart,  I 
was  obliged  to  have  not  only  a  double-barreled  interpretation, 
but  a  regular  repeating  rifle,  for,  as  the  sons  of  the  chiefs 
understood  three  different  languages,  and  had  no  one  language 
in  common,  three  interpreters  stood  by  my  side,  and  gave  what 
I  had  to  say  in  three  languages  to  different  portions  of  the 
audience.  A  better  way  was  that  followed  in  Constantinople, 
when,  in  different  parts  of  the  same  large  room,  Armenian, 
Turkish,  and  Greek  girls  ,were  gathered,  while  Mrs.  Clark 
addressed  them,  and  the  teachers  interpreted  her  remarks  to 
each  group  in  their  own  tongue.  After  all,  a  better  substitute 
for  the  gift  of  tongues  is  a  good  interpreter  of  one  tongue. 


Chapter  XVII 
Years  i 884-1922 

GREAT  BRITAIN   AND   GREAT  BRITISHERS 


a  score  of  the  world's  most  eloquent  preachers drs. 

meyerj  clifford,  maclaren,  parker,  spurgeon,  and 

many     others in     spurgeon^s      class-room dr. 

Parker's  humor  —  a  good  irish  story  —  william  t. 

STEAD. 

g  Y  ACQUAINTANCE  with  some  outstanding 
people  of  Great  Britain  must  be  crowded  into 
one  chapter,  regardless  of  chronological 
order,  for  I  have  made  fourteen  or  fifteen 
visits  to  Britain's  "  right  little,  tight  little 
island,"  within  twice  as  many  years. 
"  We  like  Americans  but  detest  America,"  said  a  plain-spoken 
Britisher,  in  one  of  the  very  frank  moods  for  which  his  country- 
men are  famous,  to  an  American  j  the  latter  answered  with  the 
retort  discourteous,  "  We  like  England,  but  we  detest  English- 
men." This  American,  unless  led  away  by  his  desire  to  get 
even  with  the  Britisher,  could  not  have  gone  behind  the  barriers 
of  reserve  which  many  Englishmen  put  up  between  themselves 
and  all  strangers.  He  had  not  become  accustomed  to  the 
"  brutal  frankness  "  and  "  a  certain  condescension  "  of  which 
Americans  complain,  and  which,  after  all,  really  mean  so  little. 
When  one  does  get  behind  the  barriers  he  finds  that  there  are 
no  more  delightful  hosts  and  cordial  friends  in  all  the  world 
than  the  descendants  of  our  own  forbears  who  stayed  in  the. 
motherland. 

Among  the  ministers  and  religious  leaders  now  living  (in 

162 


GREAT    BRITAIN    AND    GREAT    BRITISHERS  1 63 

1922)  whom  I  have  rejoiced  to  call  my  friends,  are  Dr.  John 
Clifford,  the  Grand  Old  Man  of  the  Free  Churches  of  Great 
Britain,  Rev.  Frederick  Brotherton  Meyer,  D.D.,  known 
throughout  the  world  for  his  evangelistic  labors  and  writings j 
Dr.  J.  H.  Jowett,  Dr.  R.  J.  Campbell,  Dr.  James  Stalker  of 
Scotland,  Rev.  Thomas  Yates  of  London,  Rev.  John  Pollock 
of  Ireland,  pastor  of  the  largest  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  Kingdom,  Rev.  James  Mursell,  Rev.  Thomas  Phillips 
of  London,  Rev.  Lionel  Fletcher  of  Cardiff,  and  of  course  I 
have  met  many  others  whom  I  greatly  esteem,  but  I  am  limited 
by  lack  of  space,  from  mentioning  all  the  names  I  would  like 
to  record. 

Of  those  who  have  passed  away.  Dr.  Joseph  Parker,  Charles 
H.  Spurgeon,  and  Alexander  Maclaren  are  the  most  eminent. 

Many  others  whom  I  have  met  more  casually,  were  or  are 
stars  of  the  first  magnitude  in  their  own  ecclesiastical  firma- 
ment, like  Dr.  Horton  of  London,  Dr.  Jones  of  Bournemouth, 
Dr.  George  Adam  Smith,  Hugh  Price  Hughes  of  blessed 
memory,  Bishop  Gore,  Henry  Drummond,  Dr.  Carpenter, 
Bishop  of  Ripon,  Dr.  Creighton,  Bishop  of  London,  Silvester 
Home,  who  was  no  less  worthy  of  a  bishopric,  and  many  others, 
living  and  dead,  well  known  to  American  readers. 

On  my  first  Sunday  in  London,  more  than  thirty  years  ago, 
like  nine  Americans  out  of  ten  who  are  religiously  inclined, 
I  went  to  hear  Charles  H.  Spurgeon  in  the  morning,  and 
Joseph  Parker  in  the  evening.  Mr,  Spurgeon's  burly  form  and 
homely  face,  —  homely  in  both  the  American  and  English 
sense  of  the  wordj  his  resonant,  beautifully  modulated  voice, 
and  the  spiritual  exaltation  of  his  sermon,  made  a  deep  impres- 
sion upon  me,  as  upon  all  his  auditors.  This  was  in  the  later 
years  of  his  life,  but  his  bow  of  eloquence  still  abode  in 
strength,  and  his  natural  force  was  but  little  abated,  for  some 
years  to  come. 

On  a  later  visit,  he  kindly  invited  me  to  speak  to  his  con- 
gregation for  a  few  moments  before  his  sermon,  and  it  was  an 


164  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

experience  to  be  rememberedj  —  standing  in  that  high  pulpit 
with  something  like  a  score  of  deacons  underneath,  some  of 
whom  I  feared  would  be  sadly  mangled  if  the  pulpit  should 
fall,  —  while  all  around,  on  the  floor  and  in  the  two  great 
galleries,  right  and  left  and  before,  and  even  a  few  behind, 
was  a  great  audience  such  as  Mr.  Spurgeon  had  gathered 
Sunday  after  Sunday  for  many  years.  Such  a  weekly  example 
was  this,  as  the  world  has  scarcely  ever  seen,  of  the  personal 
power  of  a  speaker,  united  with  the  glowing  presentation  of 
the  Gospel  message. 

My  most  vivid  memory,  however,  of  Mr.  Spurgeon,  was  in 
the  class-room  of  his  students,  where  he  invited  me  on  an- 
other occasion  to  tell  the  young  theologues  something  about 
the  Christian  Endeavor  movement.  I  was  struck  with  the 
eager,  tiptoe  attitude  of  expectation  with  which  everything 
he  said  in  his  brief  introduction  of  me  was  greeted  by  the 
students.  It  seemed  as  though  they  were  ready  to  weep  or 
laugh  at  every  sentence,  and  were  confident  that  something 
worthy  of  tears  or  smiles  would  be  forthcoming.  The  smiles, 
however  greatly  predominated,  for  Spurgeon  was  by  no  means 
a  weeping  preacher.  His  allusion  to  a  picture  on  the  wall  of 
the  class-room  which  represented  the  angel  spirits  of  the  mar- 
tyrs hovering  over  the  dead  bodies  in  the  arena  where  the  lions 
were  tearing  them  to  pieces,  in  spite  of  the  gruesomeness  of  the 
picture,  evoked  considerable  laughter,  as  he  told  how  one  of  his 
little  grandchildren,  looking  at  the  picture  and  the  fluttering 
angels,  exclaimed  nonchalantly,  "  Huh,  pigeons." 

I  have  forgotten  the  connection,  or  how  it  aided  in  the 
introduction  of  a  humble  American  visitor,  but  the  students 
being  in  the  mood,  seemed  equally  on  the  qui  vive  when  I  came 
to  speak,  and  when  I  began  to  tell  about  the  different  commit- 
tees in  the  American  Christian  Endeavor  societies,  the  look- 
out, the  prayer-meeting,  and  the  social,  they  began  to  smile  j 
the  music,  the  temperance  and  the  sunshine  committees,  and 
they  began  to  titter  j  the  good  literature,  the  flower,  and  the 


o 


o" 
o 

D 


,-f         en 


o 

K 
Z 

o 

r 
o 
n 

> 

z 

o  o 

m 
^> 

a 


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D- 

CA 


■-a 
o 


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t-H   ^ 


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r 


GREAT    BRITAIN    AND    GREAT    BRITISHERS  1 67 

evangelistic  committees,  and  they  broke  into  quite  a  guffaw.  I 
saw  nothing  funny  in  it,  but  they  seemed  to  think  that  I  was 
perpetrating  some  American  joke,  at  which  it  was  their 
bounden  duty  to  laugh,  or  that,  perhaps,  I  was  drawing  a  long 
American  bow  in  regard  to  the  actualities  of  young  people's 
work.  This,  it  is  needless  to  say,  was  in  the  early  days  of  the 
Christian  Endeavor  movement,  for  now  they  have  in  Great 
Britain  all  these  committees  and  many  more  in  their  societies. 

Afterwards  I  received  from  Mr.  Spurgeon  permission  to  use 
every  week  in  The  Golden  Rule^  extracts  from  his  sermons, 
which  ,were  specially  reported  for  us  by  Mr.  Charles  Waters, 
a  deacon  of  the  Tabernacle,  and  one  of  the  earliest  friends 
of  the  Endeavor  movement. 

Since  Mr.  Spurgeon's  death  I  have  had  the  privilege  of 
knowing  his  successors.  Rev.  Thomas  Spurgeon,  Dr.  A.  T. 
Pierson,  another  eloquent  American  pastor  of  the  Tabernacle, 
Dr.  A.  C.  Dixon,  and  of  addressing  several  great  audiences  of 
young  people  within  its  hospitable  walls. 

Probably  of  no  London  preacher  are  so  many  good  posthu- 
mous stories  told  as  of  Dr.  Joseph  Parker.  I  have  already 
written  of  my  first  introduction  to  the  City  Temple  and  of 
Dr.  Parker's  over-flattering  introduction  of  myself.  It  was 
far  more  interesting  to  sit  in  the  pews  and  listen  to  the  doctor's 
mighty,  reverberating  voice,  as  he  denounced  some  evil  of  the 
day,  or  to  his  flute-like  tones  as  he  touched  on  lighter  themes, 
or  led  his  congregation  in  an  uplifting  prayer.  No  such 
born  actor,  I  believe,  ever  mounted  pulpit  stairs.  He  could 
not  help  being  theatrical.  It  was  as  natural  and  necessary  to 
him  as  breathing. 

In  private  conversation,  however,  he  could  be  kindly  and 
genial  as  a  politician,  or  brusque  and  savage  as  a  bear,  as  he 
deemed  either  mood  a  fitting  reception  to  his  visitor.  He  re- 
ceived strangers  for  a  few  moments  after  the  morning  service 
in  his  little  study  back  of  the  pulpit,  where  he  held  court  for 
half  an  hour,  each  visitor  sending  in  his  card  and  being  strictly 


l68  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

limited  in  time.  "  When  can  I  have  an  hour's  conversation 
with  you,  Doctor,  on  an  important  subject?  "  asked  one  bore- 
some  visitor  after  the  morning  service.  "  Never,  sir,  never  to 
all  eternity,"  roared  the  Doctor,  but  I  think  he  did  accord  him 
the  regulation  five  minutes. 

A  minister  now  in  South  Africa  has  told  me  about  attending  a 
party  of  brother  clergymen  among  whom  was  Dr.  Parker, 
who  prided  himself  on  his  enormous  head,  as  well  he  might, 
considering  how  much  it  contained.  Greatly  to  the  annoyance 
and  chagrin  of  some  of  the  brethren  with  smaller  craniums. 
Dr.  Parker  would  take  from  the  hat  rack,  one  after  another, 
the  tall  tiles  which  they  had  worn  to  the  party,  place  them  on 
his  own  shaggy  brows,  and  show  how  the  hat  tottered  around, 
several  sizes  too  small,  on  his  head. 

Perhaps  my  most  amusing  personal  experience  of  Dr. 
Parker's  astounding  oratory  came  in  connection  with  the 
World's  Christian  Endeavor  Convention  in  1910.  The  meet- 
ings were  held  in  the  great  Alexandra  Palace,  in  one  enormous 
hall  in  which  twenty  thousand  auditors  gathered  for  some  of 
the  mass  meetings.  Other  halls  and  tents,  were,  however,  used 
for  the  smaller  meetings,  and  in  one  of  these  an  interde- 
nominational programme  was  provided,  with  the  leading  rep- 
resentatives of  each  of  the  great  denominations  as  speakers. 
The  celebrated  Dr.  Creighton,  Bishop  of  London,  spoke  for  the 
Church  of  England,  Hugh  Price  Hughes  for  the  Methodists, 
Dr.  Watson  of  Birkenhead,  for  the  Presbyterians,  Dr.  Gree- 
nough,  chairman  of  the  Baptist  Union  for  that  year,  for  the 
Baptists,  and  Dr.  Joseph  Parker  for  the  Congregationalists. 
Truly  a  more  distinguished  platform  would  have  been  hard 
to  find  in  the  five  continents. 

The  Bishop  of  London  made  a  splendid  twenty-minute  ad- 
dress, friendly  and  fraternal,  and  dwelling  especially  upon  the 
temfer  with  which  we  should  do  Christian  work.  As  I  was 
presiding  at  the  meeting,  I  next  introduced  Dr.  Parker  to  speak 
for  the  Congregationalists.     His  opening  words  were  astonish- 


GREAT    BRITAIN    AND    GREAT    BRITISHERS  1 69 

ing:  "  Mr.  President,  I  think  that  you  introduced  the  last 
speaker  as  '  the  Bishop  of  London,'  I  had  an  impression  that 
/  was  the  Bishop  of  London  j  for  a  man  who  has  stood  in  the 
pulpit  for  twenty-five  years,  preaching  the  Gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ  week  after  .week  to  a  great  congregation,  has  some  right 
to  consider  himself  the  Bishop  of  London." 

Such  unspeakable  bombast  made  us  want  to  hide  our 
Congregational  heads,  but  Dr.  Parker  knew  how  to  get  out 
of  a  difficulty,  or  rather  he  often  made  a  seeming  oratorical 
blunder  for  the  sake  of  getting  out  of  it.  He  continued, 
"  But,  Mr.  President,  though  I  may  have  had  the  impression 
that  I  had  some  right  to  be  called  a  Bishop  of  London,  since 
I  have  heard  the  magnificent  address  of  Dr.  Creighton,  I  have 
come  to  the  conclusion  that,  after  all,  he  has  the  better  right 
to  be  called  the  Bishop  of  London." 

This  relieved  the  tension,  and  he  went  on  to  say,  "  I  have 
been  asked  to  speak  for  Congregationalism.  I  would  not  be 
wet  through  for  any  ism  in  the  world."  The  peculiar  signifi- 
cance of  this  remark  was  evident  as  we  saw  the  perspiration 
oozing  through  his  thin  alpaca  coat,  for  it  was  a  frightfully 
hot  day,  and  the  glass  roof  over  this  particular  audience  room 
seemed  to  focus  the  sun's  rays  upon  the  devoted  speakers  on  the 
platform.  However,  Dr.  Parker  was  fully  able  to  occupy  his 
twenty  minutes  on  the  broader  theme  of  "  Endeavor,"  with- 
out much  reference  either  to  Congregationalism  or  to  Chris- 
tian Endeavor. 

The  other  speakers  were  all  eloquent  and  impressive,  but 
none  gave  such  successive  shocks  and  counter  shocks  to  the 
audience  as  did  Dr.  Parker. 

On  this  occasion,  Hugh  Price  Hughes  told  me  privately 
after  the  meeting  that  he  was  greatly  desirous  that  the  Wes- 
leyans  should  join  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  as  the 
other  denominations  of  Methodists  in  Great  Britain  had  done, 
but,  he  said,  he  had  only  been  able  to  "  keep  his  toe  in  the  door- 
way "  to  prevent  its  being  entirely  shut  in  the  face  of  the 


lyO  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

movement,  referring  to  the  fact  that  the  Wesley  Guilds  of 
Great  Britain  and  the  Epworth  Leagues  of  America  were  the 
only  young  people's  societies  whose  denominational  au- 
thorities forbade  the  interdenominational  fellowship.  In 
spite  of  this  fact,  however,  since  all  the  other  Methodist  bodies, 
and  there  are  many,  are  in  this  fellowship,  there  are  probably 
more  Methodist  Christian  Endeavor  societies  throughout  the 
world  than  are  found  in  any  other  one  denomination.  Not 
a  few,  indeed,  among  the  Wesleyan  Methodists. 

Two  other  eminent  divines  whom  I  have  seen  at  many  con- 
ventions, and  who  always  seem  as  eager  and  interested  in  the 
meetings  as  the  young  people  of  a  quarter  of  their  age,  are 
Dr.  F.  B.  Meyer,  and  Dr.  John  Clifford. 

Dr.  Meyer  has  been  president  of  the  British  Union,  as  well 
as  of  the  great  London  Federation  of  Christian  Endeavor 
societies  and  has  found  them  a  real  aid  in  his  evangelistic  work. 
I  was  much  impressed  by  his  answer  to  a  nominating  com- 
mittee from  the  British  Union,  who  came  to  ask  him  to  serve 
as  president  for  the  succeeding  year.  They  had  not  much 
hope  that  he  would  accept,  knowing  how  busy  he  was  as  pas- 
tor of  the  great  Christ  Church  on  Westminster  Bridge  Road, 
as  a  voluminous  writer  of  books  and  religious  articles,  and  as 
a  frequent  traveller  to  America  and  other  lands  on  evangelis- 
tic tours,  so  they  said  to  him:  "We  will  not  ask  you  to  do 
very  much  work.  Dr.  Meyer,  but  the  use  of  your  name  as 
president  will  be  a  great  help  to  us." 

He  answered,  "  My  dear  friends,  if  you  want  me  to  be 
a  figure-head  president,  I  cannot  accept  j  but  if  you  want  me 
to  be  a  genuine  working  president,  I  will  consider  it  one  of  the 
greatest  privileges  of  my  life,  and  will  give  every  Thursday 
to  the  work  of  the  society,  going  from  Land's  End  to  John 
O'Groat's,  wherever  I  may  be  called."  It  can  be  imagined 
how  delighted  the  delegation  was  with  his  reply,  and  still 
more  delighted,  when,  in  the  course  of  the  year,  he  fulfilled 
his  promise  to  the  letter. 


GREAT    BRITAIN    AND    GREAT    BRITISHERS  I7I 

Dr.  Meyer  is  the  most  genial  and  companionable  of  men, 
full  of  good  spirits  and  good  humor  in  private  life,  and  on 
suitable  public  occasions,  and  untiring  in  his  capacity  for  workj 
writing  on  railway  trains  and  motor  busses,  taking  on  task 
after  task,  but  never,  apparently,  too  hurried  to  do  each  duty 
well.  If  there  was  a  beehive  church  in  all  the  world  it  was 
Christ  Church  under  his  administration.  Under  Dr.  Poole, 
his  American  successor,  it  still  retains  this  distinction. 

Dr.  John  Clifford  is  a  man  of  a  somewhat  different  type, 
though  earnest  for  the  spread  of  the  kingdom,  equally  elo- 
quent in  the  pulpit,  equally  busy  out  of  it,  and  equally  a  born 
leader  of  men. 

On  two  or  three  occasions  he  has  asked  me  to  preach  in  his 
famous  church,  Westbourne  Park  Chapel,  when  I  would  much 
rather  have  sat  in  the  pew  and  listened  to  him,  a  preference 
which  doubtless  his  congregation  shared  with  me.  On  the 
last  occasion  of  this  sort  in  19 14,  he  invited  Mrs.  Clark  and 
myself  to  his  pleasant  home  to  meet  his  invalid  wife  and  to 
take  dinner  with  them.  You  need  to  get  into  a  great  man's 
home  really  to  know  him  as  he  is,  and  Dr.  Clifford  shines  there 
as  well  as  in  his  pulpit.  Genial,  friendly,  unassuming,  he 
makes  his  guests  feel  that  they  are  conferring  a  favor  as  well 
as  receiving  one,  and  he  is  not  above  the  small  pleasantries  of 
life.  On  his  table,  I  remember,  was  a  large  box  of  chocolate 
creams  which  he  passed  to  us,  remarking  that  though  he  had 
lost  many  of  his  teeth  he  still  kept  his  "  sweet  tooth."  I  think 
it  speaks  well  for  a  man  of  eighty  to  retain  his  boyhood's  pre- 
dilections. 

I  was  much  interested  in  the  originals  of  several  cartoons 
that  had  appeared  in  Punch  and  other  papers,  which  had  been 
presented  to  him,  and  which  he  had  framed  and  hung  on  the 
wall  of  his  stairway.  One  of  them  represented  him  in  one 
of  his  reform  crusades  as  Davy  Crockett,  while  Prime  Min- 
ister Balfour  was  the  coon  up  the  tree,  crying  out,  "  Don't 
shoot.  Dr.  Clifford,  Pll  come  down." 


172  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

One  of  his  good  stories  related  to  an  occasion  when  Dr. 
Dwight  Hillis  had  been  advertised  to  preach  for  him.  For 
some  reason  Dr.  Hillis  did  not  turn  up  at  the  hour  for  the  ser- 
vice and  he  had  to  preach  himself  at  a  moment's  notice.  As 
he  was  going  out  of  the  church,  after  the  service,  he  heard  one 
stranger  say  to  another,  neither  of  whom  had  known  of  the 
substitute:  "The  old  man  did  pretty  well  for  an  Americafiy 
didn't  he?  " 

The  late  Dr.  Alexander  Maclaren,  and  Dr.  Jowett  of  Bir- 
mingham, afterwards  of  New  York  and  London,  are  two 
more  of  Great  Britain's  preachers,  with  whom  I  have  had 
some  personal  contact. 

In  Doctor  Maclaren's  church  in  Manchester,  during  his 
lifetime,  I  preached  two  or  three  times,  and  have  had  the 
honor  of  spending  a  night  under  his  hospitable  roof.  Among 
all  the  expository  preachers,  living  or  dead,  in  my  opinion  he 
stands  at  the  head.  His  marvellous  aptitude  of  illustration 
opened  windows  into  the  truth  as  does  no  other  preacher  whom 
I  have  heard  or  read.  His  illustrations  were  always  apt 
and  pat,  never  strained,  and  are  strewn  as  thickly  through  his 
sermons  as  jewels  in  a  king's  crown.  A  young  preacher 
needs  scarcely  any  other  commentaries  in  his  library  than  Dr. 
Maclaren's  volumes  on  the  many  books  of  the  Bible.  His 
English  was  as  pure,  simple,  and  limpid  as  that  of  the  great- 
est masters  of  our  mother  tongue. 

In  his  home,  too,  he  was  a  charming  host,  and  I  looked 
with  reverence  and  almost  with  awe,  when,  as  a  comparatively 
young  man,  I  was  his  guest  and  remembered  how  his  books 
had  seemed  to  me  the  supreme  volumes  of  Biblical  lore. 
The  last  time  I  saw  him  was  near  the  very  end  of  his  life. 
He  had  asked  me  to  preach  for  him  in  the  evening,  while  he 
took  the  morning  service,  and  I  was  privileged  to  listen. 
Though  feeble  in  body  his  mind  was  as  clear,  his  points  as 
telling,  and  his  illustrations  as  forcible  as  when  he  was  in  his 
prime.     But  when  I  went  to  his  study  after  the  sermon  he 


GREAT    BRITAIN    AND    GREAT    BRITISHERS  1 73 

was  utterly  exhausted,  his  face  incredibly  wrinkled  by  age 
and  by  studious  days  and  nights,  while  he  seemed  to  take 
some  comfort  in  occasional  whiffs  from  his  long  "  church 
warden."  With  his  permission  I  soon  afterwards  compiled 
a  volume  of  "  Similes  "  from  Dr.  Maclaren,  Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer 
adding  an  estimate  of  Dr.  Maclaren's  life  and  work. 

Dr.  Jowett  represents  the  present  generation  of  great 
preachers,  and  perhaps  there  h  no  one  either  in  Great  Britain 
or  America  who  by  simple,  quiet,  but  most  forcible  appeal  to 
the  best  that  is  in  his  hearers,  can  so  hold  and  entrance  them. 
In  his  old  church  in  Birmingham,  Carr's  Lane  Chapel,  I  have 
seen  great  gatherings  of  young  people,  all  of  whom  seemed 
to  feel  at  home  in  a  sanctuary  made  famous  by  the  pastorates 
of  three  of  the  greatest  preachers  of  the  last  century,  —  Dr. 
James,  Dr.  Dale,  and  Dr.  Jowett. 

Rev.  John  Pollock,  pastor  of  St.  Enoch's  Church  of  Bel- 
fast, Ireland,  for  many  years  past,  is  even  more  widely  known 
in  Christian  Endeavor  circles  than  these  eminent  preachers, 
for  he  has  been  president  of  the  Irish  Union,  of  the  British 
Union,  and  of  the  All-European  Union  as  well,  and  has  made 
many  journeys  to  America  and  other  lands  in  the  interests  of 
the  movement.  We  have  spent  many  happy  vacation  days 
together  in  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  America,  when  I  have  been 
sometimes  guest  and  sometimes  host. 

The  dry  humor  of  Scotland  and  the  more  rollicking  fun  of 
Ireland  both  find  a  place  in  this  genial  friend  who  is  Scotch 
by  birth  and  training  and  Irish  by  adoption,  and  the  long 
tramps  we  have  had  around  the  shores  of  Nantucket  and 
Martha's  Vineyard,  some  sixty  miles  or  more  in  less  than  a 
week,  and  other  shorter  rambles,  as  well  as  our  common  tastes 
and  tasks,  have  endeared  him  to  me.  He  has  written  also 
some  of  the  best  Christian  Endeavor  hymns  in  the  hymnals 
of  Europe  and  America.  "  For  Christ  and  the  Church  "  is 
especially  stirring. 

Another  Irishman  after  my  own  heart  was  the  late  Rev. 


174  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

J,  G.  Lamont,  who  according  to  the  itinerant  system  of  the 
Methodist  Church  to  which  he  belonged,  vibrated  between 
Belfast,  Dublin,  and  Cork.  Very  tall,  impressive  in  figure 
and  bearing,  a  fine  preacher,  and  a  most  devoted  Christian, 
there  was  yet  a  twinkle  in  his  eye  which  told  one  before  he 
spoke  what  a  rare  raconteur  he  might  be.  His  Irish  stories 
were  inimitable,  especially  his  favorite  tale  of  the  ignorant 
countryman  who  was  so  under  the  dominion  of  the  priest  that 
he  took  for  law  and  gospel  everything  that  the  priest  told 
him. 

Pat  was  a  sad  drunkard,  and  his  confessor  had  labored  with 
him  many  times.  At  last,  after  an  unusually  bad  spree,  the 
priest  said  to  him,  "  Pat,  if  you  ever  get  drunk  again,  Pll 
turn  ye  into  a  rat."  The  poor  fellow,  in  mortal  terror  of 
this  fate,  kept  straight  for  quite  a  while,  but  at  last  his  ap- 
petite overcame  him,  and  he  reached  the  drivelling  state  of 
maudlin  tears  and  self-pity,  and  confided  to  his  wife, 
"  Bridget  dear,  I  couldn't  help  it.  Pve  been  drinking  again, 
and  Father  Maloney  is  going  to  turn  me  into  a  rat."  Be- 
tween his  sobs  he  blubbered  out,  "  Bridget,  when  you  see  the 
tail  growing  on  me,  and  me  eyes  growing  smaller,  then, 
Bridget,  for  heaverv's  sake^  look  out  for  the  cat!  " 

Such  a  story  seems  tame  enough  in  print,  but  when  told 
with  Mr.  Lamont's  rich  Irish  brogue,  and  when  he  pictured 
out  poor  Mike  thinking  he  was  gradually  turning  into  a  rat, 
his  tail  growing  longer  and  his  eyes  growing  smaller,  it  was 
irresistible. 

On  one  occasion  I  was  attending  a  convention  in  Cork  when 
Mr.  Lamont  was  stationed  there,  and  I  was  his  guest. 
Taking  an  afternoon  for  a  holiday,  we  went  together  to 
Blarney  Castle.  Mr.  Lamont,  before  we  started,  prnned  on 
to  his  under  coat  a  long  and  imposing  row  of  Christian  En- 
deavor badges  which  he  had  worn  at  various  conventions,  and 
which  looked  very  much  like  military  decorations.  When 
we  reached  the  gate  to  the  Castle  he  threw  back  his  overcoat 


GREAT    BRITAIN    AND    GREAT    BRITISHERS  1 75 

and,  assuming  a  military  air,  displayed  his  badges  to  the  won- 
dering eyes  of  the  old  soldier  who  collects  the  shillings  which 
allow  entrance  to  the  castle  grounds.  The  old  veteran  looked 
with  amazement  at  the  supposed  evidence  of  military  prow- 
ess, and  exclaimed  in  awe-stricken  tones,  "  It  was  the  Lord's 
own  mercy,  Sor,  that  ye  got  back  alive!  " 

Rev.  James  Mursell,  now  pastor  of  a  large  Baptist  Church 
in  High  Wycombe,  England,  is  another  of  my  choice  British 
friends.  A  distant  relative  of  William  Carey,  the  pioneer 
missionary,  he  exhibits  something  of  Carey's  adventurous 
spirit,  and  has  had  fruitful  pastorates  in  Scotland  and 
Australia,  as  well  as  in  England.  In  all  these  countries,  as 
well  as  in  America,  we  have  had  happy  days  together. 

It  can  be  imagined  that  when,  at  the  great  Boston  convention 
of  1895,  Mr.  Mursell,  Mr.  Pollock,  Mr.  Lamont,  Rev. 
Knight  Chaplin,  then  the  secretary  of  the  British  Christian 
Endeavor  Union,  Rev.  Mr.  Montgomery,  an  eminent  Pres- 
byterian pastor  of  Belfast,  and  Rev.  J.  L.  Closs  of  Australia, 
all  came  as  delegates,  and  were  all  guests  at  our  home  in 
Auburndale,  we  had  many  a  lively  hour  of  relaxation  after  the 
strenuous'  duties  and  innumerable  meetings  of  the  convention. 

Rev,  James  Stalker,  whose  "  Life  of  Christ  "  and  other  books 
have  been  so  popular  in  America,  has  been  our  kind  host  on 
more  than  one  occasion.  He  once  invited  Professor  George 
Adam  Smith  to  meet  us  at  his  home.  Dr.  Smith  had  just 
come  from  an  evangelistic  service  in  a  mission,  and  I  was  de- 
lighted with  his  warm,  evangelical  spirit,  especially  as  he  was 
at  that  time  under  suspicion  in  conservative  circles  for  his 
liberal  views  regarding  "  the  second  Isaiah  "  and  the  other 
prophets. 

Professor  Drummond  sent  word  at  the  last  minute  that  he 
was  ill  and  could  not  come.  This  was,  alas,  the  beginning  of 
the  long  two  years  of  mysterious  illness,  which  at  last  ended 
in  his  seemingly  untimely  death.  I  had  before  met  Mr. 
Drummond  at  a  Christian  Endeavor  convention  in  Hamilton, 


176  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Ontario,  where  I  was  charmed  with  the  impromptu  little 
speech  that  he  made  to  the  young  people,  for  his  presence  was 
unexpected.  His  simplicity,  sincerity,  and  naturalness  are  re- 
flected in  his  books,  and  his  very  face  showed  forth  the  love 
which  he  declared  was  the  greatest  thing  in  the  world. 

He  was  travelling  with  Lord  and  Lady  Aberdeen  on  this 
occasion,  and  I  was  struck  then,  as  I  have  been  since  with  their 
simple  friendliness  and  cordiality  of  manner,  so  like  in  its 
quality  to  that  of  their  friend,  Drummond. 

To  return  to  England  after  this  little  character-sketch  ex- 
cursion to  Scotland  and  Ireland,  a  minister  who  has  filled  a 
large  space  in  the  eye  of  the  public,  and  has  figured  in  many 
newspaper  headlines,  is  Rev.  Reginald  John  Campbell,  Dr. 
Parker's  successor  in  the  City  Temple.  There  could  scarcely 
be  a  greater  contrast  than  between  these  two  men,  the  one 
big,  burly,  dramatic,  with  a  voice  of  thunder,  the  other  slight, 
spirituelle,  with  an  impressive  halo  of  white  hair,  which  gave 
the  impression  that  he  was  about  ready  for  translation  j  with- 
out any  histrionic  gift,  and  with  a  thin,  high  voice.  Yet  Dr. 
Campbell  crowded  the  City  Temple  through  all  his  theological 
wanderings,  as  Dr.  Parker  had  done  before  him,  until  he  de- 
cided to  leave  the  Congregational  fold  for  the  Church  of 
England. 

He  came  to  America  on  his  first  visit  in  1903  to  speak  at  the 
International  Christian  Endeavor  Convention  in  Denver,  Col., 
and  while  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  was  our  guest  for  two 
or  three  days  with  his  good  wife  at  our  home  in  Auburndale. 

I  cannot  close  this  chapter  without  speaking  of  two  eminent 
laymen  whom  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  know  intimately. 
One  of  these  was  Mr.  W.  H.  Hope  of  Liverpool,  a  whole- 
sale commission  merchant,  whose  equal  for  unselfish  and  un- 
tiring religious  work  I  never  knew.  His  days  and  nights  were 
literally  given  to  the  poor  children  of  Liverpool.  This  was 
his  business  in  life.  He  engaged  in  trade  as  William  Carey 
cobbled  shoes,  "  to  pay  expenses."     I   have  seen   the  little 


GREAT    BRITAIN    AND    GREAT    BRITISHERS  1 77 

ragged,  dirty,  homeless  children  in  Liverpool's  slums  crowd 
around  him  and  fight  for  a  chance  to  hold  his  hand,  while 
joyous  cries  of  "Mr.  'Ope,"  "Mr.  'Ope,"  "Mr.  'Ope," 
echoed  from  every  side  as  he  went  down  the  long  mean  streets 
to  his  mission  work. 

One  of  the  beautiful  memorials  which  he  has  left  behind 
him  is  the  Christian  Endeavor  Holiday  Home  at  Kent's  Bank, 
which  he  was  largely  instrumental  in  establishing,  and  which 
is  so  successfully  carried  on  by  Mrs.  Jenny  Wareing,  the  be- 
loved "  mother  "  of  a  multitude  of  young  people,  and  a  poet- 
ess of  no  mean  order  as  well.  She  has  just  passed  to  her  great 
reward,  mourned  by  a  great  host  of  young  people. 

Another  gentleman  who  was  greatly  interested  in  this  home, 
was  in  many  respects,  I  think,  the  most  eminent  Englishman  I 
have  ever  known,  Mr.  W.  T.  Stead,  the  great  editor,  reformer, 
and  publicist.     He  was  a  many-sided  man. 

In  the  early  days  of  our  acquaintance  he  did  me  the  honor  of 
publishing  a  character  sketch  of  myself  in  his  magazine.  The 
Review  of  Reviews,  and  I  wondered  that  he  could  find  so  much 
to  say  of  a  somewhat  obscure  American  clergyman,  though  of 
course  it  was  the  Christian  Endeavor  society,  then  in  its  earlier 
years,  that  chiefly  engaged  his  pen.  From  that  time  until  his 
lamented  and  tragic  death  in  the  wreck  of  the  "  Titanic  "  I  saw 
him  many  times  in  his  ofiice  in  London.  When  the  World's 
Endeavor  convention  was  held  in  London  in  1900,  he  was 
invited  to  speak  but  refused  to  do  so,  on  the  ground  that  he 
was  expected  to  address  young  men  alone,  while,  if  he  spoke 
at  all  he  wanted  to  address  both  sexes,  for  one  of  the  chief 
benefits  of  the  society,  was,  in  his  opinion,  that  it  brought  the 
sexes  together,  and  gave  the  best  of  them  a  chance  to  get  ac- 
quainted and  form  lasting  ties  of  companionship  and  love. 
Thus  the  early  sneer  that  Christian  Endeavor  stood  for 
"  Courting  Endeavor,"  became,  in  his  mind,  one  of  its  chief 
glories. 

Though  he  would  not  deliver  an  address  he  entered  into  the 


178  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

convention,  and  especially  its  social  features,  with  great  hearti- 
ness, and  invited  a  large  number  of  American  delegates  and 
others  to  an  excursion  up  the  Thames  in  motor  boats,  for  which 
he  provided  a  most  bounteous  collation,  spending  hundreds  of 
dollars  on  the  trip. 

Among  the  other  guests  on  this  occasion  were  Silas  and 
Joseph  Hocking,  the  well  known  authors,  Marianne  Far- 
ningham,  the  writer  of  beautiful  hymns,  and  others  of  the 
literary  ilk,  together  with  many  young  aspirants  for  the  honors 
of  the  pen  and  the  ink-pot. 

Mr.  Stead  was  the  life  of  the  party,  and  when  the  conversa- 
tion bore  upon  literary  matters  he  gave  the  young  quill-drivers 
a  recipe  for  becoming  authors.  "  In  order  to  become  good 
writers,"  he  said,  "  you  must  fall  in  love  with  a  ;Woman 
twice  your  age,  and  be  so  dead  in  love  with  her  that  you  will 
insist  upon  writing  to  her  every  day  of  the  week.  You  won't 
write  drivel  to  such  a  woman,  and  your  respect  and  love  for 
her  will  soon  make  you  master  of  a  good  style."  Whether 
there  was  a  touch  of  autobiography  in  this  advice  he  did  not 
tell  us. 

As  is  well  known,  Mr.  Stead  believed  that  he  was  in  com- 
munication with  the  spirits  of  the  dead,  a  belief  that  was  a 
great  comfort  and  inspiration  to  him,  though  he  said  it  had  not 
changed  his  theological  views,  and  that  he  still  believed  in  all 
the  great  truths  that  were  taught  him  at  his  mother's  knee. 
He  read  me  long  letters  which  he  thought  came  from  his  be- 
loved son  who  had  been  his  colleague  on  The  Review  of 
Reviews^  and  who  had  passed  into  the  other  world.  The 
letters  were  full  of  religious  fervor  and  most  beautifully  ex- 
pressed, and  showed  an  especial  interest  in  the  great  Sunday- 
school  class  of  young  men,  which  he  had  taught  when  on  earth, 
Mr.  Stead  also  told  me  about  "  Julia,"  from  whom,  as  well 
as  from  his  son,  he  thought  he  had  received  many  communica- 
tions by  automatic  writing.  As  I  remember  it,  "  Julia  "  was 
a  Boston  school-teacher  whom  he  had  never  seen,  but  who 


GREAT    BRITAIN    AND    GREAT    BRITISHERS  1 79 

had  managed  to  establish  communication  (Mr.  Stead  being  the 
writing  medium)  with  a  friend  who  was  still  living.  A  little 
book  called  "  Letters  from  Julia,"  of  which  he  gave  me  an 
autographed  copy,  is  an  interesting  story  of  life  in  the  other 
world,  particularly  to  those  who  accept  Mr.  Stead's  premises. 

In  this  connection  I  must  tell  of  an  incident  which  occurred 
in  the  year  1900  on  our  return  from  a  long  journey  across 
Siberia  after  escaping  from  Peking  just  before  the  Boxer 
massacres,  of  which  I  shall  tell  in  another  chapter.  Mrs.  Clark 
and  I  were  perhaps  the  last  people  who  left  Peking  before  the 
siege,  and  the  newspaper  editors  of  London  were  naturally 
anxious  to  find  out  all  that  we  knew  about  the  situation  in  Boxer- 
land,  which  after  all,  was  not  very  much.  It  was  supposed  at 
that  time  to  be  certain  that  the  missionaries  and  diplomats  were 
all  dead,  and  it  was  known  for  a  fact  that  the  German  Am- 
bassador had  been  killed,  and  a  memorial  service  had  been  ap- 
pointed in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  in  memory  of  the  English 
martyrs. 

Mr.  Stead  came  to  me  and  said  that  though  he  believed 
most  clairvoyants  were  fakirs,  yet  there  was  one  in  Paris  that 
he  believed  did  possess  second  sight,  and  he  would  like  to 
consult  her  about  the  fate  of  the  besieged  in  Peking. 

He  added  that  before  going  into  a  trance  the  clairvoyant 
must  have  in  her  hand  something  that  had  recently  come 
from  the  place  she  wished  to  see,  and  asked  me  what  I  could 
give  him  that  had  recently  come  from  Peking.  I  handed  him 
a  letter  of  introduction  from  M.  de  Giers,  the  Russian  Minister, 
and  one  from  Mr.  Conger,  our  American  Minister,  with  some 
other  little  things  from  my  suitcase. 

He  took  them  over  to  Paris  and  in  two  or  three  days  brought 
them  back  to  me  telling  me  that  when  the  clairvoyant  held 
them  in  her  hand  she  went  into  a  dead  trance,  and  told  him 
that  she  could  see  the  people  of  Peking,  that  they  were  for 
the  most  part  alive  and  well,  that  the  German  Ambassador  was 
killed,  but  that  the  British  Ambassador  was  well,  though  his 


l80  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

wife  was  afraid  that  he  might  kill  her  if  worst  came  to  worse, 
rather  than  allow  her  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Boxers. 
Moreover  she  said  that  the  allied  armies  were  on  their  way  to 
the  rescue  and  that  the  siege  would  soon  be  raised.  She  went 
on  to  say  further,  that  this  trouble  would  soon  be  followed  by 
a  great  war  of  the  nations,  in  which  Russia  would  particularly 
suffer. 

When  she  came  out  of  the  trance  and  Mr.  Stead  told  her 
what  she  had  said,  she  declared,  "  I  must  have  been  mistaken 
this  timej  it  cannot  be  possible  that  they  are  not  all  dead." 
A  few  days  afterwards  it  was  found  that  the  clairvoyant, 
whether  by  a  happy  coincidence  of  circumstances  or  otherwise, 
had  spoken  substantially  the  truth,  and  the  memorial  service 
in  St.  Paul's  was  called  off.  I  leave  my  readers  to  draw  their 
own  inferences,  and  will  only  add  that  whatever  they  may 
think  of  Mr.  Stead's  spiritualistic  leanings,  which  I  could  not 
sympathize  with,  he  was  one  of  the  kindliest,  keenest, 
brainiest,  bravest,  and  most  generous  men  I  ever  knew. 


Chapter    XVIII 

Years    i 896-1 898 

MEXICO,    JAMAICA,    AND    CUBA 

MEXICO      TWENTY-FIVE      YEARS      AGO ZACATECAS LOVELY 

JAMAICA AN     UNUSUAL    GREETING CUBA    AND    THE 

SPANISH   WAR. 

N  SPITE  of  our  proximity  to  Mexico,  I  have 
made  but  two  journeys  to  that  Republic, 
not  because  of  lack  of  interest  in  our 
neighbors,  but  partly  because  the  calls  from 
lands  across  the  seas  have  seemed  more 
insistent  than  those  from  the  southern  Re- 
public, and  partly  because,  for  years,  that  distressed  country, 
with  its  constant  revolutions  and  counter-revolutions,  has 
afforded  little  scope  for  religious  meetings,  or  other  activities 
of  the  sort. 

But  my  visits  to  this  land  have  given  me  some  idea  of  its 
extreme  wealth  in  natural  resources,  and  its  large  opportuni- 
ties for  Christian  service  among  the  people  who  have  been  so 
long  exploited  by  the  church  and  by  greedy  land-holders. 
In  its  earlier  days  Mexico  owed  not  a  little  to  the  Church  of 
Rome  for  such  civilization  as  it  enjoys,  and  the  priest,  Hidalgo, 
who  inspired  Mexicans  with  a  desire  for  liberty,  and  led  the 
way,  is  one  of  the  noblest  characters  in  modern  history. 
Protestant  missionaries,  however,  are  doing  much  to  bring  a 
purer  faith  to  the  people  who  are  throwing  off  the  shackles  of 
ecclesiastical  and  political  serfdom. 

Our  first  journey  to  Mexico  City  was  interrupted  at  several 
places  where  we  stopped  for  public  meetings.     One  day  in 

181 


l82 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 


San  Antonio  was  memorable  to  us,  at  least,  because  of  a  cyclone 
which  did  great  damage  in  Texas,  and  swept  the  edge  of  the 
city,  but  without  making  any  great  havoc  there.  I  could  real- 
ize, however,  as  never  before,  as  I  saw  the  black  storm-clouds 
gather  and  break  in  their  fury,  the  terrible  power  of  the  wind 
as  it  marshals  its  forces  and  levels  everything  before  it,  snap- 


The  Organ   Cactus  of  Mexico 

ping  big  trees  like  pipestems  and  planting  houses  or  wrecks 
of  houses  many  rods  away  from  their  original  foundations. 

The  journey  from  northern  Mexico  to  the  capital  was  hot 
and  dusty  and  most  uncomfortable,  as  such  a  journey  on  the 
edge  of  summer  is  likely  to  be,  but  was  relieved  by  a  halt  with 
our  missionary  friends,   the   Eatons,  in   the   thriving  city   of 


MEXICO,    JAMAICA,    AND    CUBA  1 83 

Chihuahua,  —  a  city  which  has  figured  so  largely  in  the  later 
troubled   history  of  the   Republic. 

Mexico  City,  after  the  heat  and  dust  of  the  lowlands, 
seems  charming  indeed  with  its  four  o'clock  shower  every 
afternoon  in  summer  time,  and  its  distant  view  of  lofty  snow- 
clad  Popocatapetl  and  Iztaccihuatl.  When  peace  shall  be 
really  established  and  a  stable  government  shall  have  been  able 
fully  to  cope  with  the  bandits,  as  now  seems  likely  under  the 
Obregon  reghne,  this  great  upland  plain  of  our  southern 
neighbor,  with  its  many  beauties  and  unusual  attractions  for 
the  naturalist,  the  archaeologist,  and  the  lover  of  magnificent 
scenery,  will  become  one  of  the  most  attractive  spots  of  the 
twin  continents. 

The  chief  Endeavor  gathering  of  this  journey  was  the 
national  convention  at  Zacatecas,  a  famous  mining  town,  some 
7,000  feet  above  the  sea.  It  was  a  good  meeting,  and  gave 
us  an  introduction  to  many  of  the  missionaries  and  native 
workers,  who  are  doing  their  best  to  make  Mexico  the  splendid, 
prosperous  country  of  vast  resources,  which  Providence  de- 
signed her  to  be. 

Zacatecas  was,  I  think,  at  that  time  the  most  arid  and 
parched  city  that  I  ever  visited.  No  rain,  it  was  said,  had 
fallen  there  for  seven  years,  the  city  water  was  running  low, 
was  of  a  poor  quality,  and  had  to  be  used  sparingly.  Clouds 
of  dust  whirled  through  the  streets,  and  dreadful  epidemics 
caused  by  the  long  drought  were  feared.  When  we  arrived 
there  seemed  no  certainty  that  the  drought  would  not  con- 
tinue for  seven  years  more,  but  toward  the  end  of  the  second 
day,  strange  to  say,  a  welcome  drizzle  began,  and  late  at  night, 
as  we  took  our  departure,  a  drenching  rain  set  in  which  let 
loose  every  evil  smell  that  seven  years  of  drought  had  bottled 
up.  Evidently  the  Lord  had  opened  the  windows  of  heaven, 
and  I  can  only  hope  that  the  spiritual  blessings  of  the  con- 
vention were  as  large  and  fruitful  as  the  abundant  shower  that 
watered  the  earth. 


184  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

One  of  the  most  charming  islands  lapped  by  any  ocean  is 
Jamaica,  whose  name,  unfortunately,  has  been  chiefly  associa- 
ted in  the  minds  of  many  Americans  with  the  fiery  liquor  that 
in  the  olden  times  demoralized  many  a  community.  This 
reproach  she  shared  with  New  England,  as  the  two  chief 
centres  of  the  rum  trade,  but  she  no  longer  deserves  it,  to  the 
same  extent  as  formerly  at  least,  for  with  the  decadence  of  the 
sugar  plantations,  rum  and  molasses  are  going  more  and  more 
to  the  shades  of  forgotten  traffics,  and  bananas  and  oranges 
and  other  tropical  fruits  are  taking  their  place. 

Jamaica  is  one  of  the  shining  examples  of  the  beneficence 
of  British  rule.  Here  ten  thousand  whites  live  together  in 
peace  with  seven  hundred  thousand  blacks.  The  communi- 
ties are  orderly  and  self-respecting,  and  though  there  is  a 
sad  lack  of  education  in  many  of  the  black  districts,  there  is 
little  abject  poverty. 

The  roads  throughout  Jamaica,  as  in  most  British  possessions, 
are  admirable  for  carriage  or  automobile,  and  there  are  few 
more  lovely  drives  in  all  the  world  than  half  a  dozen  which 
can  be  taken  over  the  hard  white  highways,  under  the  magnifi- 
cent tropical  foliage,  with  splendid  palms  of  all  descriptions 
towering  toward  the  skies,  while  trees  and  shrubs  covered  with 
brilliant  flowers  meet  the  eye  in  every  direction.  Frequently, 
too,  we  pass  vast  groves  of  banana  trees  that  furnish  a  cheap 
and  succulent  fruit  for  uncounted  thousands  in  our  great  cities, 
and  a  fruit  that  is  equally  appreciated  by  the  well-to-do.  Cap- 
tain Baker  of  Cape  Cod  who  introduced  this  fruit  to  North 
Americans  half  a  century  ago  was  a  benefactor  of  mankind. 

The  negroes  of  Jamaica  are  a  happy-go-lucky  people,  for  our 
brothers  in  black  in  that  fortunate  isle  do  not  have  to  exert 
themselves,  at  least  to  obtain  a  bare  living.  Just  laws  are  well 
administered,  and  the  religious  life  of  the  negroes  is  more  in- 
telligent and  sensible  than  in  many  other  places.  They  have 
large  and  substantial  churches  in  several  cities  and  towns,  and 
the  work  of  English  missionaries  has  evidently  not  been  in  vain. 


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MEXICO,    JAMAICA,    AND    CUBA  1 87 

Christian  Endeavor  societies  have  long  flourished  among 
them,  and  it  was  often  my  pleasure  to  speak  to  great  audiences 
of  most  attentive  listeners.  A  church  in  old  Spanish  Town  I 
particularly  remember,  with  a  high  pulpit  nearly  on  a  level  with 
the  second  gallery.  The  stairs  leading  to  it  are  built  around  a 
mast  which  seemed  to  sway  perilously  as  I  ascended  to  my  perch 
at  the  top.  I  took  comfort  in  the  thought,  however,  that  there 
was  no  danger  of  its  falling  over,  since  for  scores  of  years 
the  old  pulpit  had  been  thumped  vigorously  by  my  colored 
brethren  of  the  cloth. 

The  1-oyalty  of  the  Jamaican  negroes  to  the  mother  country 
is  most  interesting,  and  sometimes  touching.  They  often 
speak  of  "  going  home,"  meaning  England,  though  neither 
they  nor  any  of  their  ancestors  were  ever  within  three  thousand 
miles  of  the  "  home  "  country,  and  probably  their  descendants 
will  be  quite  content  to  stay  in  Jamaica.  Some  of  them  even 
assume  an  exaggerated  Cockney  accent,  and  I  have  had  an 
itinerant  vendor  of  walking-sticks  ask  me,  "  Will  you  'ave  a 
horange  or  a  hebony  cane.  Sir?  "  On  one  occasion  I  was  intro- 
duced to  a  large  audience  by  a  Brother  in  Black,  who  made  a 
very  flowery  speech  of  welcome,  and  ended  by  saying,  "  We 
are  very  glad  to  welcome  to  Jamaica,  our  cousins  from 
America,  as  we  English  say."  The  "  cousins  from  America  " 
appreciated  the  welcome  and  at  once  felt  at  home. 

Of  all  the  extraordinary  introductions  I  ever  received,  and 
they  have  been  many,  the  most  extraordinary  was  given  me 
in  Jamaica,  and  I  think  I  must  quote  it  entire  for  the  benefit 
of  my  readers: 

"  The  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  greets  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Clarke  with  happy  greetings,  and  extends  to  them  the  warmest 
welcome  of  ecstacy  jubilant  with  gratitude  to  Almighty  God 
in  bringing  them  across  the  main  of  the  mighty  deep  and  safely 
landing  them  in  the  haven  of  this  popular  American  city  on  the 
shore  of  the  isle  of  Springs,  "  The  Queen  of  the  Antilles," 
as  it  is  called. 


1 88  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

"  We  think  ourselves  highly  favoured  to  be  privileged  first 
of  all  the  societies  in  Jamaica  to  receive  the  long-looked-for 
visit  of  Dr.  Clarke  the  world-wide  renown  of  Christian  En- 
deavor, as  also  the  pioneer  and  champion  of  the  great  Endeavor 
vehicle,  and  to  welcome  him  and  Mrs.  Clarke  in  our  midst. 

"  Hail,  to  the  father  of  Endeavorers  in  every  part  of  the 
world  and  the  founder  of  so  great  an  auxiliary  for  Christ  and 
the  Church! 

"  The  little  leaven  is  permeating  the  whole  lump,  and  with 
mingled  feelings  we  agree  that  the  endeavour  movement  is  a 
tree  planted  by  the  rivers  of  water  that  bringeth  forth  its  fruit 
in  its  season;  its  leaf  also  shall  not  wither,  being  an  evergreen 
of  longevity  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  which  is  a  fruitful 
source  of  blessing  in  the  economy  of  grace  to  attract  the  young 
into  the  gospel  net,  and  win  them  for  Christ  and  the  Church. 

"  As  a  society  we  are  keenly  sensitive  and  alive  to  the  fact 
that  much  good  has  been,  is  being  and  will  be  achieved  in  con- 
nection with  this  busy  hive  of  Christian  activity,  fraught  with 
dear  desire  of  every  nation  to  establish  universal  righteousness, 
as  a  means  to  an  end,  and  to  hasten  the  glorious  time  when  the 
kingdom  of  this  world  shall  have  become  the  golden  age  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  and  His  Christ,  to  the  joy  of  every  longing 
heart." 

This  first  journey  to  Jamaica  was  made  in  1898,  shortly 
after  the  Spanish  War,  and  we  returned  home  by  way  of  Cuba, 
sailing  from  Kingston  for  Santiago.  As  we  sailed  into  Santiago 
harbor  we  saw  wrecks  of  three  of  the  Spanish  battleships 
piled  upon  the  shallows,  and  the  castle  where  the  brave  Hobson 
was  imprisoned  when  captured  after  his  perilous  attempt  to 
prevent  the  Spanish  fleet,  which  was  bottled  up  in  Santiago 
harbor  from  escaping  through  the  narrow  channel.  Never 
was  a  great  naval  victory  so  decisive  and  so  comparatively  blood- 
less, and  Admiral  Cervera,  the  Commodore  of  the  Spanish 
fleet,  was,  after  his  surrender,  far  more  popular  in  America, 
and  feted  much  more  royally  than  on  his  return  to  Spain. 

Santiago  was  then  in  the  early  days  of  its  reconstruction. 
It  was  a  dismal,  dirty  city,  which  offered  few  inducements  to 


MEXICO,    JAMAICA,   AND    CUBA  1 89 

the  traveller  to  remain,  and  after  a  single  meeting,  we  took  a 
Spanish  steamer  for  Havana,  as  the  railroad  between  the  two 
chief  cities  of  Cuba  was  not  then  completed.  This  voyage 
took  us  around  two  thirds  of  the  coast  of  Cuba,  and  we  were 
glad  enough  when  it  was  completed. 

Havana,  too,  still  showed  the  effects  of  long  centuries  of 
Spanish  misrule,  and  gave  little  promise  of  the  delightful 
winter  resort  it  was  soon  to  become.  We  had  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  General  Leonard  Wood,  recently  Presidential  candi- 
date, and  now  governor  of  the  Philippines,  ,who  was  then  the 
military  governor  of  Cuba,  and  were  struck  by  his  quiet, 
dignified,  and  refined  bearing,  an  American  soldier  of  the 
best  type. 

There  were  few  inducements  in  Havana,  as  in  Santiago,  for 
a  long  stay,  at  that  period  of  the  country's  history,  and  the 
special  errand  which  took  me  to  Cuba  did  not  detain  us  very 
long.  So  it  was  not  many  days  before  a  Ward  Line  steamer 
landed  us  under  the  shadows  of  the  skyscrapers  of  New  York. 

One  of  our  genial  fellow-passengers  on  this  journey  was 
General  Greely  of  Arctic-exploration  fame.  It  was  hard  to  be- 
lieve that  the  kindly,  handsome,  well-fed  companion  of  our 
voyage  had  been  reduced  to  live  upon  his  old  boots  while  on  his 
disastrous  but  fruitful  expedition  in  the  far  north,  and  we 
realized  again  the  old  truth  that  a  genuine  hero  is  as  modest 
as  he  is  brave. 


Chapter  XIX 
Years   i  896-1 897 

DISMAL    DAYS    IN    INDIA 


TWO     WONDERFUL     CONVENTIONS EN     ROUTE     TO     INDIA 

LORD  NORTHCLIFFE A  TERRIBLE  PLAGUE AN  AWFUL 

FAMINE  WILLIAM   CAREY  FIRST  AND  THIRD  A  CHAIN 

OF    LOVE  OFF    FOR  AFRICA. 

HE  journey  to  Europe  in  1894,  alluded  to 
in  a  previous  chapter,  largely  restored  my 
health  without  requiring  any  long  period 
for  rest  or  recuperation,  anti  I  was  able  to 
accomplish  more  in  different  European  coun- 
tries than  I  had  dared  to  hope  for  at  the 
start.  Most  of  1895  and  the  last  half  of  1896  were  spent  in 
America.  These  years  were  memorable  in  Christian  Endeavor 
annals  for  two  enormous  conventions:  "  Boston  '95  "  and 
"  Washington  '96."  Both  will  be  long  remembered.  Those 
were  the  days  of  extremely  low  rates  by  rail  and  boat  for  con- 
ventions of  all  sorts.  To  conventions  of  unusually  large 
proportions  half  rates  or  less  were  granted. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  never  before  or  since  has  Boston  been 
so  crowded  with  visitors  as  in  July,  1895.  No  less  than  56,425 
Christian  Endeavor  delegates  were  registered.  They  came 
from  every  State  in  the  Union,  and  from  several  foreign  lands, 
Great  Britain  and  Australia  being  particularly  well  represented. 
Boston  made  unprecedented  preparations  for  the  oncoming 
hosts.  The  streets  were  ablaze  with  flags  and  pennants  and  a 
wealth  of  bunting  such  as  I  have  never  seen  in  any  city.  All 
the  railroad  stations  within  twenty-five  miles  of  Boston  were 

190 


DISMAL    DAYS    IN     INDIA 


191 


handsomely  decorated  with  the  convention  colors.  A  large 
section  of  the  "  sacred  Common  "  was  set  apart  as  the  chief 
meeting-place,  and  two  enormous  tents,  holding  ten  thousand 


Percy  S.  Foster 
The  beloved  musical  director  of  many  Christian  Endeavor  Conventions. 

people  each,  were  pitched  upon  it,  while  the  parks  were  full 
of  Christian  Endeavor  emblems  in  living  flowers. 

The  Boston  papers  vied  with  each  other  to  give  verbatim 


192  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

reports  of  the  addresses,  issuing  special  colored  supplements, 
and  containing  little  else  for  a  week  than  the  news  of  the  meet- 
ings. The  celebrated  Lord  Northcliffe,  then  plain  Alfred 
Harmsworth,  who  happened  to  be  in  America  at  the  time,  and 
whom  I  met  a  year  later  on  a  journey  to  India,  told  me  that  he 
had  never  before  realized  the  "  news  value  of  religious  copy," 
that  he  never  saw  a  convention  so  well  and  fully  set  forth  as 
in  the  Boston  Herald  and  Boston  Globey  and  that  his  papers 
in  London  would  be  more  hospitable  to  such  gatherings  in  the 
future  than  they  had  been  in  the  past. 

The  convention  in  Washington  in  1896  was  scarcely  less 
memorable,  and  the  song  service  held  at  the  East  Front  of 
the  Capitol,  where  it  was  said  that  75,000  people  were  gathered 
together,  will  never  be  forgotten  by  those  who  heard  it.  It 
was  led  by  Mr.  Percy  Foster,  who  has  been  during  all  the 
years  since  the  beloved  convention  song-leader. 

"  Tom  "  Reed  was  then  the  Speaker  of  the  House,  and 
though  Congress  had  adjourned,  and  he  was  not  at  the  conven- 
tion, he  facetiously  offered  me,  on  account  of  the  extreme  heat, 
the  use  of  his  Kentucky  homespun  suit,  which  had  been  ex- 
ploited in  the  papers  as  the  regalia  of  the  presiding  officer  of 
the  House  of  Representatives.  Since  Mr.  Reed  tipped  the 
scales  at  not  less  than  250  pounds,  the  ample  proportions  of  his 
suit  would  scarcely  have  fitted  my  more  meagre  form. 

A  furious  storm  the  night  before  the  convention  opened 
wrecked  one  of  the  three  great  audience  tents  which  seated  ten 
thousand  people  each,  and  water-logged  the  others  j  but  with 
incredible  energy  on  the  part  of  Mr.  W.  H.  H.  Smith,  the 
chairman  of  the  Washington  committee,  and  his  colleagues, 
the  wrecked  tent  was  repaired,  the  wet  seats  were  dried,  and  the 
convention  was  in  all  respects  one  of  the  greatest  and  most 
successful  ever  held. 

Very  soon  after  this,  with  my  wife  and  four  children,  I 
sailed  for  Europe,  intending  to  make  an  extended  journey  to 
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DISMAL    DAYS    IN    INDIA  I95 

tion  of  the  children.  In  those  days  the  cost  of  living  in 
Europe  was  very  considerably  less  than  in  America,  and  as  the 
ocean  fares  were  cheap,  it  cost  no  more  to  pay  the  fares  of  the 
family  and  their  li\ing  expenses  in  Europe,  than  to  live  for 
the  same  length  of  time  in  America.  At  the  same  time  it  gave 
us  all  much  more  of  united  family  life,  and  my  children  a  wide 
experience  in  travel  in  many  lands  which  they  would  not  other- 
wise have  enjoyed.  On  these  accounts,  on  several  different 
occasions  they  accompanied  me  to  Europe,  and,  incidentally,  on 
my  return  from  longer  or  shorter  speaking  trips,  we  enjoyed 
many  a  happy  holiday  together,  in  Switzerland,  Germany, 
Holland,  or  Great  Britain,  before  college  days  and  the  later, 
sterner  duties  of  life,  kept  the  young  folk  continuously  in 
America. 

It  can  well  be  imagined  that  one  of  the  great  drawbacks 
of  the  wandering  life  which  for  more  than  thirty  years  I  have 
been  compelled  to  live  has  been  the  breaking  up,  more  or  less, 
of  the  home  and  its  traditions.  This  has  been  compensated  for, 
however,  in  large  measure,  by  the  family  flights  to  which  I 
have  alluded,  and  by  the  further  fact  that  my  wife  and  my 
daughter  have,  one  or  the  other,  usually  accompanied  me  on 
the  journeys  around  the  world,  and  on  my  more  extended 
travels. 

In  1896,  however,  there  seemed  to  be  no  other  way  than 
that  we  should  separate  for  many  months,  since  we  could  not 
all  go  together  and  the  children  were  too  young  to  be  left  with- 
out their  mother.  So,  having  placed  the  two  elder  children  in 
the  family  of  a  German  pastor  in  Berlin,  and  having  seen  the 
younger  children  established  with  their  mother  in  pleasant 
apartments  on  the  Linden,  I  started  off  alone  on  a  journey 
which  proved  to  involve  many  interesting  episodes.  Going 
overland  to  Naples,  I  sailed,  after  an  exasperating  delay,  on 
a  dirty  Italian  steamer  for  Alexandria,  since  my  round-trip 
ticket  required  me  to  go  by  a  certain  line  that  shall  be  nameless. 

It  was  a  dark  and  stormy  night  w^hen  our  steamer  pushed  its 


196  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

murky  way  out  through  the  Bay  of  Naples.  Vesuvius  had  re- 
cently been  in  a  tumult,  and  a  great  red  cross  of  molten  lava 
gashed  its  side,  a  portent  which,  in  earlier  days,  would  have 
been  considered  most  auspicious  for  one  on  such  an  errand  as 
mine.  Little  cups  of  oil  in  which  were  smoky  wicks  served  to 
make  the  darkness  of  the  passages  of  the  ship  visible,  and  I 
wondered  if  we  should  reach  the  other  side  without  foundering 
or  burning  up.  However,  a  good  Providence  guided  the 
voyage,  and  I  was  able  at  Ismailyia  to  transfer  to  a  fine  British 
ship  for  the  journey  through  the  Suez  Canal  and  the  Red 
Sea  to  Bombay. 

On  this  ship,  among  other  interesting  passengers,  I  made 
the  acquaintance  of  Alfred  Harmsworth,  to  whom  I  have 
before  alluded.  He  was  then  a  young  man  at  the  beginning  of 
his  remarkable  career  as  the  greatest  and  most  successful  news- 
paper publisher  in  the  world's  history.  Alert,  clean  cut,  and 
affable,  he  evidently  had  a  wonderful  power  for  acquiring 
knowledge  and  extracting  information  from  all  comers.  He 
was  not  then  Lord  Northcliffe,  or  even  Sir  Alfred,  but  he  told 
me  that  he  already  owned  three  daily  newspapers  and  twenty 
weeklies,  whose  preferred  stock,  if  I  remember  rightly,  he 
had  just  sold  for  five  million  dollars,  keeping  the  common 
stock  and  the  control  of  the  syndicate  in  his  own  hands.  Before 
he  died  the  number  of  his  papers  and  magazines  increased,  1 
understand,  to  over  one  hundred,  while  he  owned  vast  tracts 
of  forest  land  in  Newfoundland,  where  the  pulp  for  the  paper 
of  his  numberless  publications  ,was  grown. 

Many  a  hot,  sultry  night  on  the  Red  Sea  or  the  Indian 
Ocean  we  paced  the  decks  together,  while  he  unfolded  his  plans 
for  a  high-class  religious  monthly,  of  the  same  grade  as  the 
Century  or  Harfers  in  its  illustrations  and  in  the  value  of  its 
articles,  proposing  that  he  should  furnish  the  capital  for  an 
international  edition,  while  I  should  look  after  its  interests  in 
America.  The  scheme  never  came  to  anything,  for  before 
either  of  us  reached  home,  Sir  George  Newnes,  the  enter- 


DISMAL    DAYS    IN    INDIA  I97. 

prising  publisher  of  The  Strand  Magazine  and  other  periodi- 
cals started  the  The  Sunday  Strand,  which  seemed  to  take  the 
place  of  the  proposed  publication  and  make  it  unnecessary. 

Mr.  Harmsworth  did  not  strike  me  as  a  man  of  high  re- 
ligious principle,  but  as  an  opportunist  of  remarkable  force  and 
sagacity.  One  reason  that  he  gave  for  desiring  a  religious 
magazine  and  for  publishing  cheaper  religious  periodicals  than 
were  already  in  his  syndicate,  was  that  he  wanted  to  "  please 
his  old  mother,  who  was  very  religious."  This  was  certainly 
a  good  reason,  as  far  as  it  went. 

He  also  told  me  how  a  few  years  before  he  had  been  work- 
ing for  ten  dollars  a  week  in  a  publishing  office,  when  it 
occurred  to  him  that  an  interesting  but  not  too  substantial 
weekly  for  the  masses,  and  costing  only  a  penny,  might  be 
successful.  So  he  made  up  a  dummy  and  called  it  Answers, 
which  he  presented  to  a  publisher  who  agreed  to  finance  it. 
Tt  is  of  the  same  character  as  the  still  more  famous  Tit-bits, 
and  twenty  years  ago  even,  brought  him  an  income  of  thousands 
of  pounds  every  year.  This  was  the  beginning  of  his  fortune 
and  of  his  rise  in  public  life,  which  ultimatelyy  made  him, 
especially  with  his  ownership  of  The  Times,  the  Thunderer, 
one  of  the  most  influential,  one  of  the  most  feared,  and 
at  the  same  time  one  of  the  most  courted  men  in  Great  Britain. 
After  reaching  London  on  my  return  I  lunched  with  him  in 
his  elegant  home,  but  I  remember  nothing  of  the  interview. 

At  last  the  weary  hours  of  the  long  voyage  were  over,  and  we 
sailed  into  the  harbor  of  Bombay.  News  of  the  great  plague 
which  was  then  prevailing  had  reached  us  before  we  left  Eu- 
rope, but  we  had  no  thought  of  finding  the  city  in  such  a 
condition  of  fright  and  dismay.  Something  like  a  thousand 
people  a  day  were  dying  of  the  plague.  Many  of  the  principal 
stores  were  closed.  A  great  exodus  from  the  city  of  panic- 
stricken  people  had  already  taken  place  j  four  hundred  thou- 
sand, it  was  said,  had  already  left,  and  thousands  more  were 
struggling  to  get  away.     They  besieged  the  railway  station. 


198  MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

crowding  the  third-class  cars  to  suffocation,  and  often  encamp- 
ing for  days  in  the  open  spaces  around  the  station  before  they 
could  get  aboard  the  train  which  would  take  them  into  the 
country  and  comparative  safety. 

At  night  the  sad  wailing  of  the  hired  mourners  in  the  funeral 
processions,  and  the  beating  of  the  native  tom-toms,  was  almost 
continuous,  as  the  funerals  passed  by  the  missionary  home 
where  I  was  staying,  while  double  the  usual  number  of  vul- 
tures were  seated  solemnly  on  the  edge  of  the  Towers  of 
Silence,  where  the  Parsees  bury  their  deadj  the  unclean  birds 
waiting  for  the  frequent  corpses  which  were  left  for  them  to 
dispose  of. 

After  a  few  days  I  left  Bombay  for  a  mission  station  of 
the  Disciples  of  Christ  in  one  of  the  central  provinces.  Here 
the  horror  was  of  a  different  kind,  but  no  less  acute,  for  poor 
India  was  suffering  from  famine  as  well  as  from  plague  in  that 
dreadful  year.  This  particular  province  suffered  more  than' 
many  of  the  others,  and  all  day  long  a  gaunt  procession  of  men, 
women,  and  children  came  to  the  mission  compound  to  re- 
ceive what  little  aid  could  be  given.  At  times  they  would  line 
up  around  the  fence  which  surrounded  the  compound,  stretch- 
ing out  hungry  hands  for  any  dole  they  might  receive.  They 
were  half  naked,  and  their  out-standing  ribs  told  of  weeks  of 
semi-starvation,  and  of  constant  hunger  j  their  sunken  cheeks 
and  eyes,  too,  and  the  protruding  wind-filled  bellies  of  the 
little  children  told  their  own  sad  tale.  All  we  had  to  give  them 
was  handfuls  of  coarse  grains  mixed  with  some  wheat.  This 
they  often  could  not  wait  to  carry  home  or  to  cook,  but,  as  we 
filled  each  pitiful  hand,  the  grain  would  be  carried  raw  and 
unground  to  their  mouths  to  satisfy  the  craving  which  had 
become  intolerable. 

The  hearts  of  the  missionaries  as  well  as  that  of  their 
visitor  were  wrung,  but  what  more  could  we  do  for  the  ever 
increasing  throngs? 

Since  those  days  means  of  transportation  of  food  have  been 


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DISMAL    DAYS    IN    INDIA  201 

improved,  tanks  for  the  storage  of  water  have  been  multiplied 
and  enlarged,  and  it  is  not  probable  that  another  such  famine 
will  visit  India,  even  though  there  may  be  years  of  scarcity, 
for  always  in  Burmah  and  in  some  parts  of  India  the  crops 
are  good,  and  the  famines  have  arisen  from  a  lack  of  trans- 
portation, rather  than  from  a  lack  of  supplies. 

It  is  also  true  that  no  such  visitation  of  the  plague  as  that 
of  1896-7  will  again  devastate  India,  for  in  recent  years  it 
has  been  found  that  the  germs  of  the  plague  are  carried  by 
fleas,  and  fleas  are  carried  by  rats,  and  thus  the  contagion 
spreads  from  house  to  house.  A  serum  has  also  been  discovered 
which  renders  those  inoculated  with  it  largely  immune. 
Twenty-five  years  ago,  however,  the  cause  and  the  prevention" 
of  plague  were  not  known,  and  I  saw  many  little  ineffectual 
fires  of  wood  with  sulphur  sprinkled  on  them,  burning  before 
the  infected  houses  in  Bombay,  a  supposed  mitigation  of  the 
evil  which  was  absolutely  of  no  value. 

In  those  days,  too,  the  lepers  were  far  more  in  evidence  in 
India  than  they  are  to-day.  One  frequently  passed  them  on 
the  street  where  they  were  allowed  to  roam  at  large.  I  re- 
member riding  one  long  afternoon  in  a  second-class  compart- 
ment with  a  leper,  most  of  whose  fingers  had  been  eaten  off  by 
the  dread  disease.  What  other  parts  of  his  body  were  infected 
I  do  not  know,  since  he  had  the  considerateness  to  wear  cotton 
gloves  and  a  veil.  However,  it  has  been  found  that  there  is  very 
little  danger  of  contagion  from  casual  contact  with  a  leper, 
and  medical  science  has  done  much,  and  will  do  more,  to  miti- 
gate the  horrors  of  this  dread  disease. 

This  journey  was  not  altogether  so  gruesome  as  my  readers 
so  far  may  have  imagined.  It  included  many  interesting  scenes 
and  many  delightful  visits  to  my  missionary  friends  who  had  in- 
vited me  to  A'hmednagar  and  Sirur,  to  Calcutta  and  the  villages 
of  Eastern  Bengal,  to  the  Punjab  and  the  Lodiana  Mission,  to 
Madras  and  the  wonderful  temple  city  of  Madura. 

Two  or  three  happy  incidents  especially  stand  out  in  my 


202  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

memories  of  this  journey.  One  of  these  relates  to  a  visit  to 
the  Beals  of  Bengal  with  my  friend  Rev.  William  Carey,  the 
great-grandson  of  the  pioneer  Protestant  missionary  of  the 
world.  William  Carey,  the  third,  resembles  his  great-grand- 
father in  face  and  figure,  and  an  oil  painting  of  William  the 
first  would  answer  very  well  for  his  great-grandson  to-day. 

Before  starting  for  the  rice  fields,  I  renewed  my  missionary 
zeal  by  visiting  the  Baptist  College  at  Serampore,  near  Calcutta, 
founded  by  the  original  William  Carey,  where  are  treasured 
many  mementoes  of  him.  What  impressed  me  most  were  the 
forty  great  tomes,  each  one  containing  the  translation  of  the 
Bible  in  one  of  the  many  different  languages  of  India,  all 
'translated  by  this  wonderful  scholar  and  linguist  with  the  help 
of  his  native  pupils.  It  seems  incredible  that  one  man  could 
have  accomplished  so  much  literary  work  even  if  his  life  were 
lengthened  to  twice  the  usual  span,  but  the  fact  is  that  William 
Carey  was  as  great  a  linguist  as  he  was  a  missionary.  The 
poor  shoemaker  of  Kettering  became  one  of  the  world's  great 
scholars  along  certain  lines,  a  scholarship  which  was  recognized 
even  in  his  own  day,  for  he  was  a  professor  in  the  government 
college  for  many  years,  and  earned,  if  I  am  not  mistaken, 
something  like  $200,000  as  salary,  all  of  which  he  turned  into 
the  coffers  of  the  missionary  board  for  work  in  Bengal. 

I  shall  never  forget  how  the  original  hammer,  used  by  Mr. 
Carey  when  pegging  shoes  in  Kettering,  was  revered,  almost 
as  a  sacred  object,  by  the  young  people  at  the  International 
convention  in  San  Francisco  in  1897,  where  it  was  used  as  a 
gavel  to  call  the  convention  to  order.  It  was  loaned  to  me  by 
Rev.  James  Mursell  of  England,  a  relative  of  the  Carey 
family,  and  I  took  it  home  with  me  on  my  return  from  India 
for  use  at  this  convention.  How  the  young  people  crowded 
around  the  rude  hammer,  eagerly  desiring  to  touch  it,  as  though 
they  might  receive  some  inspiration  from  the  cold  iron!  After- 
wards I  returned  the  precious  relic  to  its  owner,  but  not  before 
some  fac  similes  were  made,  which  have  been  greatly  prized. 


DISMAL    DAYS    IN    INDIA  203 

Afterwards  in  telling  of  the  incident  to  Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer  of 
London,  he  said  to  me  with  real  emotion,  "  Oh,  that  I  could 
live  so  and  do  such  work  for  the  Master  that  some  common 
article  of  daily  use  which  had  belonged  to  me,  —  a  pen,  a 
pencil,  a  hammer,  or  anything  of  that  sort,  might  be  deemed 
precious  by  future  generations."  I  know  of  few  men  for 
whom  such  a  prayer  is  more  likely  to  be  fulfilled. 

Not  far  from  the  college  at  Serampore  is  an  old  ruined  pa- 
goda, where  it  is  said  that  Henry  Martyn,  an  almost  equally  fa- 
mous missionary,  used  to  retire  for  his  private  devotions,  and 
there  is  a  tradition  that  on  one  occasion,  Henry  Martyn, 
William  Carey,  and  Adoniram  Judson  met  for  prayer  in  this 
old  pagoda,  which  even  then  was  in  ruins.  What  a  prayer 
meeting  must  that  have  been! 

William  Carey's  tomb  is  here,  a  large  four-sided  monument, 
on  three  sides  of  which  are  inscribed  the  names  and  virtues  of 
his  three  wives,  and  on  the  fourth  his  own  name  with  this 
humble  confession  of  his  faith  carved  beneath: 

"  A  worthless,  weak,  and  helpless  worm. 
In  Thy  kind  arms  I   fall." 

I  left  Calcutta  with  the  modern  William  Carey  late  one 
evening  by  rail  for  one  of  the  branches  of  the  Ganges  River, 
where  we  found  a  little  boat  with  steam  up,  waiting  to  begin 
its  voyage  by  daylight.  On  this  craft  we  sailed  for  several 
hours,  and  were  then  transferred  to  a  mission  house-boat  for 
a  narrower  section  of  the  river.  After  some  hours  more  the 
house-boat  became  too  large  for  the  water-way,  and,  up  a  long 
canal,  in  a  kind  of  canoe  called  a  dinghy,  towed  by  stout  coolies 
on  the  bank,  we  made  our  way  until  even  the  dinghy  could  go 
no  farther.  Then  we  stepped  out  upon  the  bank  and,  uncier 
the  glorious  Indian  moon  walked  for  about  two  hours  more, 
while  tales  of  tigers  and  cobras  in  the  vicinity  kept  us  alert, 
until  at  last  we  came  to  a  little  village  of  some  forty  or  fifty 
houses,  called  Chabikapar. 


204  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

It  was  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  we  reached 
there,  and  Mr.  Carey  and  I,  bending  low,  crawled  on  hands 
and  knees  into  one  of  the  huts  belonging  to  a  Christian,  and 
therefore  a  little  cleaner  than  the  others,  and  stretched  our- 
selves upon  the  straw  for  a  few  hours  of  sleep.  Long  before 
daylight  we  could  hear  the  soft  pattering  of  bare  feet  as  the 
delegates  to  the  Endeavor  convention  we  had  come  to  attend 
made  their  way  through  the  jungle  by  the  borders  of  the  canal, 
under  the  great  leaning  cocoanut  trees  and  the  broad-leaved 
bananas,  to  the  little  chapel  where  the  meetings  were  to  be 
held. 

Many  scores  walked  all  night  to  attend  this  meeting,  and  all 
the  next  night  to  get  home  again,  for  there  was  no  accommoda- 
tion for  so  large  a  throng  in  the  little  village  of  mud  houses, 
only  half  of  which  belonged  to  the  Christians.  When  day- 
light fairly  arrived  the  singing  had  begun.  Some  of  the  songs 
were  the  ordinary  gospel  hymns,  others  the  weirder  native 
music,  with  the  accompaniment  of  tom-toms  and  a  few  one- 
stringed  or  two-stringed  instruments. 

When  we  had  taken  our  places  in  the  chapel  the  delegates 
followed,  but  not  in  any  such  fashion  as  I  had  ever  seen  before. 
Instead  of  straggling  in  by  ones  or  twos  or  threes  they  danced 
in  in  groups,  each  group  representing  one  of  the  sixty  societies 
in  the  vicinity,  but  it  was  most  orderly  and  highly  proper  danc- 
ing, and  I  never  understood  so  fully  before  how  David  danced 
before  the  Lord.  One  of  the  leaders,  who  was  considered 
especially  expert  in  this  practice,  led  in  each  little  group,  danc- 
ing backwards  himself  with  a  rhythmic  swaying  of  his  body, 
while  the  rest  followed  him,  keeping  time  with  his  motions. 
Reaching  the  interior  of  the  chapel,  they  squatted  on  the 
ground  as  closely  together  as  possible,  to  make  room  for  the 
societies  which  followed  them. 

The  meetings  throughout  the  day  were  most  interesting  and 
of  a  highly  practical  character,  showing  how  better  work  might 
be  done,  indicating  faults  of  administration,  and  promoting 


DISMAL    DAYS    IN    INDIA  205 

larger  spirituality  as  well  as  effectiveness.  Toward  the  close 
of  the  day  Mr.  Carey  said  to  the  assembly,  nearly  a  thousand 
strong,  which  not  only  filled  the  chapel,  but  overflowed  into 
the  outside  regions  that  were  within  sound  of  the  speaker's 
voice:  "Let  us  make  a  chain  of  love  for  our  friend  from 
America!  " 

I  was  interested  in  his  remark  for  I  had  never  heard  of  a 
chain  of  love  before,  and  awaited  further  developments  with 
curiosity.  At  once  he  called  for  Bible  verses  bearing  upon  the 
subject  of  God's  love  to  man,  the  love  of  Christians  for  one 
another,  and  so  on.  They  came  thick  and  fast  from  the  audi- 
ence, and  were  quickly  written  down  on  colored  pieces  of  tissue 
paper.  Then,  by  the  deft  fingers  of  the  Bengali  maidens,  these 
pieces  of  paper  were  pasted  together  until  they  made  a  long 
chain.  Whereupon  a  good  deacon  in  the  church  threw  ofF,  as  a 
sign  of  respect,  part  of  the  scanty  garments  in  which  he  was 
clothed  and  came  forward  to  the  desk.  His  brown  skin  shone 
like  old  mahogany  well  rubbed  with  cocoanut  oil,  and  with  all 
the  dignity  of  a  Lord  Chesterfield,  he  placed  the  chain  around 
my  neck,  and  told  me  that  he  wished  me  to  carry  the  chain 
home  to  America  as  a  token  of  Christian  love  and  fellowship, 
because  in  all  lands  we  were  one  in  Christ. 

There  seemed  nothing  odd  or  outre  m  the  incident  in  those 
surroundings,  but  I  thought,  with  a  smile,  how  it  would  look 
to  my  friends  at  home  to  see  me  standing  there,  not  only  with 
this  tissue-paper  chain,  but  with  half  a  dozen  garlands  of 
beautiful  flowers  around  my  neck,  while  I  was  sprinkled  with 
rose  water,  a  little  attar  of  roses  rubbed  on  the  back  of  my  hand, 
three  small  limes  put  in  either  palm,  and  a  plate  of  bananas  and 
a  piece  of  betel  nut  done  up  with  lime  in  a  green  leaf  provided 
for  my  refreshment.  Yet  all  was  done  in  the  heartiest  spirit 
of  comradeship,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  idea  of  a  chain 
of  Christian  love  was  as  beautiful  as  it  was  unique. 

Another  memorable  visit  was  that  to  the  Arcot  mission.  The 
venerable  Jacob  Chamberlain,  famous  missionary  and  author. 


206  MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

was  Still  alive,  doing  splendid  work  with  his  two  sons  and 
members  of  the  Scudder  family  for  the  Telugus  of  the  region. 
One  of  the  many  convention  gavels  which  1  treasure  was  made 
by  his  own  hands  and  given  me  at  that  time.  It  consisted  of  a 
beautiful  piece  of  teakwood,  with  a  block  to  strike  it  on,  the 
gavel  as  well  as  the  block  inlaid  with  many  rupees  and  sixteen 
anna  pieces  of  the  ancient  native  regime^  coins  no  longer  in 
general  use.  Dr.  Chamberlain  was  one  of  the  best  raconteurs 
in  the  world,  and  his  stories  of  missionary  adventure,  to  which 
I  have  before  alluded,  did  much  to  popularize  the  knowledge 
of  missionary  heroism  in  the  home  land. 

Another  pleasant  incident  of  this  journey  to  India  was  an 
occasional  visit  with  my  old  time  friend,  President  John  H. 
Barrows  of  Oberlin  College,  who  was  then  touring  India  on  the 
Haskell  Foundation,  and  was  lecturing  in  all  the  prominent 
universities.  We  happened  to  meet  at  several  centres,  and  his 
eloquent  voice  was  heard  at  some  of  the  conventions  which  I 
had  gone  to  attend. 

At  last  came  the  time  for  me  to  depart  from  India  for 
Africa,  sailing  from  Madras.  The  only  means  of  transporta- 
tion was  by  a  so-called  coolie-ship,  for  which  I  had  a  ticket  on 
the  round  trip  from  Boston  to  Boston.  But  when  I  attempted 
to  claim  my  passage  I  was  amazed  to  find  that  there  was  much 
red  tape  to  be  untied  before  I  could  go  on  board.  The  ship  was 
not  expected  to  carry  white  passengers  and  did  not  care  to  do  so. 
There  were  no  fit  accommodations,  and  the  little  steamer  was 
crowded  fore  and  aft  with  a  great  load  of  coolies  who  were 
going  over  to  work  on  the  sugar  plantations  of  Africa. 

I  labored  long  and  earnestly  with  the  agent  of  the  company, 
and  demanded  the  right  of  passage  which  my  ticket  guaranteed. 
He  told  me  that  all  the  passengers  on  the  ship  had  to  be 
quarantined  for  two  weeks  before  sailing,  and  then  disinfected, 
their  clothes  burned  and  a  new  strip  of  white  cloth  given  each  of 
them  in  lieu  of  their  old  clothes.  I  naturally  would  not 
submit  to  such  treatment,  and  after  considerable  argument  he 


DISMAL    DAYS    IN    INDIA  207 

told  mc  1  might  sail  if  I  would  bring  a  physician's  certificate  of 
good  health.  This  I  did  and  at  last  the  agent  reluctantly  made 
out  a  paper  to  this  effect:  "  /;/  my  opinion  Rev.  F.  E.  Clark 
may  be  allowed  to  sail  on  the  Congella  without  fear  of  infecting 
the  other  passengers."  Never  was  I  more  glad  of  a  clean  bill 
of  health,  though  I  had  a  dim  suspicion  that  I  might  be  more 
in  danger  of  infection  from  the  other  passengers  than  they  from 
me.  The  humor  of  the  situation  mitigated  the  annoyance  of 
the  delay  and  inconvenience. 


Chapter  XX 
Year  1897 

SOUTH  AFRICA   BEFORE  THE   BOER  WAR 


ON  A  COOLIE  SHIP AMONG  THE  ZULUS PRESIDENT  KRUGER 

("  OOM  PAUL  ^^)  IN  THE  DIAMOND  FIELDS A  RE- 
MARKABLE SCHOOL ANDREW  MURRAY  AND  THE  MUR- 
RAY FAMILY. 


HE  voyage  from  Madras  to  Durban,  of  some 
five  thousand  miles,  proved  to  be  an  unevent- 
ful one,  but  not  so  tedious  as  I  had  feared. 
My  cabin  in  the  after  part  of  the  ship  was 
next  to  the  rooms  of  the  captain   and  the 


3    mates,  with  whom  I  messed,  and  I  had  a  kind 


of  cockpit  with  an  awning  over  it,  mostly  for  my  exclusive 
use  during  the  day.  Though  it  was  immediately  over  the 
propeller,  the  smooth  seas  made  it  a  comfortable  place  for 
reading  and  writing. 

The  food  was  abundant,  but  not  of  the  daintiest.  As  there 
was  no  ice,  there  could  of  course  be  no  fresh  milk  or  fresh 
meat,  and  the  butter  in  those  tropic  seas  could  always  be 
served  better  with  a  spoon  than  with  a  knife.  One  bunch  of 
bananas  was  hung  from  the  ceiling  of  the  upper  deck  at  the 
beginning  of  the  voyage,  but  it  dwindled  rapidly  and  after 
the  first  two  or  three  days  out  there  was  no  more  fresh  fruit. 

Knowing  what  was  before  me  I  organized  my  time,  which  I 
have  always  found  it  a  good  thing  to  do  on  shipboard  as  well 
as  elsewhere,  and  resolved  to  devote  so  many  hours  a  day  to 
reading,  and  so  many  more  to  writing  since  I  had  a  weekly 
article  and  sundry  editorials  to  write  for  The  Christian  En- 

208 


SOUTH    AFRICA    BEFORE    THE    BOER    WAR  2O9 

deavor  World.  This  voyage,  too,  produced  a  little  devotional 
volume,  called  "  The  Great  Secret,"  which  has  had  a  steady 
though  by  no  means  a  phenomenal  sale,  ever  since.  During 
many  long  voyages  I  have  found  it  wise  to  set  before  myself 
what  the  boys  would  call  "  a  stunt,"  to  be  accomplished  before 
the  voyage  should  end,  a  habit  which,  first  and  last,  has  resulted 
in  a  number  of  volumes  and  many  articles  for  magazines  and 
newspapers.  A  book  entitled  "  Fellow  Travellers  "  was  also 
in  part  an  outcome  of  this  voyage. 

No  land  was  touched  during  this  long  journey,  though  the 
tip  of  India  was  seen  as  we  sailed  between  the  continent  and  its 
beautiful  daughter-island  of  Ceylon,  whose  "  spicy  breezes," 
however,  we  did  not  approach  near  enough  to  smell.  Skirt- 
ing the  Seychelles  Islands  we  sailed  across  the  long  stretch  of 
the  South  Indian  Ocean  on  even  keel,  until,  after  twenty^hree 
days,  I  was  rejoiced  to  hear  the  man  at  the  lookout  cry  out, 
"  Light  on  the  port  bow!  "  Sure  enough  the  good  news  was 
true,  and  I  could  see  through  the  blackness  of  the  tropical 
night  a  flickering,  waving  flame  on  an  African  headland,  which 
told  that  we  were  not  far  from  Durban.  This  was  not  a  light- 
house, as  might  be  expected,  but  apparently  a  bonfire  or  perhaps 
an  out-door  kitchen  where  some  Zulus  were  cooking  an  evening 
meal. 

When  we  reached  the  quarantine  station  I  was  distressed  to 
hear  the  officer  in  charge  arguing  with  our  captain  about  a  two- 
weeks  quarantine.  The  latter  plead  earnestly  with  him,  how- 
ever to  allow  "  his  white  passenger  "  to  land,  as  well  as  himself, 
which,  after  a  day's  delay,  was  permitted.  At  the  wharf  some 
ministerial  friends  welcomed  me,  and  I  was  soon  in  the  thick 
of  a  speech-making  campaign  which  took  me  to  most  of  the 
larger  cities  of  South  Africa. 

Natal  is  a  beautiful  colony,  with  the  softest  of  climares, 
the  most  charming  tropical  foliage,  and  a  large  population 
of  husky  Zulus,  who  do  the  hard  work  of  the  colony.  This 
is  the  finest  race  of  black  men  that  I  have  seen.     Their  forms 


210  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

are  symmetrical  and  stalwart  and  they  seem  to  have  an  unend- 
ing flow  of  good  spirits.  Jinrikishas  are  commonly  used  in 
Durban,  as  in  other  South  African  cities,  and  the  jinrikisha 
men,  all  of  them  Zulus,  get  themselves  up  in  the  most  gro- 
tesque and  bizarre  fashion.  Their  costume  consists  largely  of 
beads,  with  barely  enough  cloth  to  fulfil  the  demands  of  de- 
cency, and  many  of  them  wear  cows'  horns,  strapped  on  to  their 
heads  in  some  way,  which  give  them  the  look  of  Diabolus  him- 
self. Their  shining  eyes,  gleaming  teeth,  and  good-natured 
grins  are  anything  but  Satanic,  however,  and  they  run  and 
cavort,  and  draw  up  their  big  baby  carriages  for  a  passenger 
with  a  flourish,  as  though  existence  was  a  long,  huge  joke. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  go  some  forty  miles  from  Durban, 
partly  by  rail,  and  partly  by  a  cart  drawn  by  six  oxen,  with  my 
friend  Rev.  Charles  N.  Ransom,  to  the  mission  station  in 
Amanzimtote.  It  ,was  an  interesting  trip  to  my  unaccustomed 
eyes.  The  curious  African  trees  and  foliage,  and  the  many 
kraals  on  the  hillside,  a  big  kraal  for  the  chief  in  the  centre, 
and  smaller  ones  for  his  numerous  wives,  clustered  around  it, 
were  conspicuous  features.  The  deep,  dry  gullies  through 
which  the  oxen  had  to  plough  their  way  with  the  lumbering 
cart,  and  the  neat  and  comfortable  mission  houses  at  the  end 
of  the  journey,  all  were  interesting  and  novel.  The  Zulus  are 
a  strong  race  mentally  and  physically,  and  though  inclined  to  be 
independent,  and  sometimes  top-lofty  in  their  attitude  to  white 
men,  on  the  whole  make  faithful  converts. 

My  engagements  allowed  me  only  a  day  or  two  in  Zululand, 
when  I  took  the  comfortable  train,  provided  with  sleeping-cars, 
for  the  Transvaal,  stopping  for  a  minute  in  Ladysmith,  a  town 
which  afterwards  became  famous  in  the  Boer  War.  Reaching 
there  very  early  in  the  morning,  the  hospitable  Dutch  pastor  re- 
freshed me  with  an  enormous  bowl  of  hot,  black  coffee,  the 
universal  drink  among  the  Boers,  while  the  British  indulge 
largely  in  tea  almost  as  strong  and  black,  either  beverage  being 
sufficient  to  destroy  an  American  digestion  in  a  short  time. 


SOUTH    AFRICA    BEFORE    THE    BOER    WAR  211 

Johannesburg,  which  twenty  years  ago  had  the  reputation 
of  being  the  wickedest  city  in  the  world,  seemed  like  one  of 
our  biggest  and  rawest  western  boom  towns.  There  were  some 
substantial  and  really  fine  brick  blocks,  approaching  the  height 
of  modest  skyscrapers  j  great  stretches  of  streets  lined  with 
poor  shacks,  some  fine  homes  in  the  outskirts,  and  thousands 
of  little  cabins  made  of  corrugated  iron,  or  at  least  roofed 
with  it,  for  wood  is  scarce  on  the  Veldt. 

The  show  places  of  Johannesburg  are  of  course  the  mines 
on  the  Rand,  the  richest  ridge  of  earth  in  all  the  world,  with 
possibly  the  exception  of  Coolgardie  in  Western  Australia.  I 
went  down  in  one  of  these  mines,  but  there  was  little  to  see. 
No  tempting  nuggets,  no  sparkling  specks  of  gold  visible  in 
the  rich  quartz,  at  least  to  the  careless  eye,  but  when  the  quartz 
is  crushed  and  washed,  the  wealth  of  the  Indies,  or  it  is  more 
proper  to  say,  the  wealth  of  golden  Africa,  is  found  in  it. 

An  interesting  relic  which  my  Christian  Endeavor  friends 
gave  me  in  Johannesburg,  at  the  close  of  the  meeting,  is  a 
cane  made  of  the  horn  of  the  Jemsbok,  which  I  have  added  to 
my  large  collection  of  gift  canes  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 
It  is  black,  and  light,  and  unbreakable,  and  its  peculiar  dis- 
tinction is  that  it  belonged  to  the  species  of  antelope  which  gave 
rise  to  the  fable  of  the  unicorn,  for  the  hunters  who  first  saw 
it  bounding  across  the  Veldt  saw  the  two  horns  which  stick  out 
at  an  acute  angle  from  the  animal's  head,  and  thought  it  had 
but  one,  since  they  are  exactly  in  line. 

At  Pretoria,  the  capital  of  the  Transvaal,  as  it  then  was,  I 
had  an  interesting  interview  with  old  President  Kruger.  His 
pastor  accompanied  me  and  translated  for  me  to  the  president 
and  from  the  president  to  myself.  The  old  gentleman  was 
sitting  on  the  stoop  of  his  modest,  white  cottage,  a  stoop 
adorned  with  two  famous  white  marble  lions,  given  him,  I  be- 
lieve, by  Cecil  Rhodes.  A  beard  of  a  week's  growth  adorned 
his  cheeks,  and  a  long  Dutch  pipe  depended  from  his  mouth, 
while,  through  the  window,  I  could  see  good  Frau  Kruger 


212  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

knitting  away  industriously  on  a  stout  pair  of  socks,  doubt- 
less meant  for  her  lord  and  master.  It  was  said  that  the 
president  understood  English  fairly  well,  but  so  disliked  the 
language,  and  also  those  who  spoke  it,  that  he  insisted  on 
always  speaking  Dutch,  and  on  being  interpreted. 

When  his  pastor  introduced  me,  the  president  tapped  me  on 
the  shoulder,  in  a  semi-playful,  semi-serious  mood,  and  said, 
"  Are  you  one  of  the  Yankees  that  always  run  to  the  Queen 
when  they  get  into  trouble?  "  His  allusion  was  to  the  report 
that  John  Hays  Hammond,  the  eminent  American  mining 
engineer,  who , was  then  in  the  Pretoria  jail,  charged  with  incit- 
ing an  insurrection  against  the  Transvaal  government,  because 
of  some  connection  with  the  Jameson  Raid,  was  said  to  have 
put  himself  under  British  protection  when  threatened  with 
arrest.  I  have  since  laughed  with  Mr.  Hammond  over  the 
president's  insinuation,  and  he  assured  me  that  he  never 
thought  of  putting  himself  under  British  protection  j  that  his 
arrest  was  a  mistake  of  the  Transvaal  government  5  and  that  he 
kept  the  American  flag  flying  over  his  bungalow  thinking  that 
it  would  give  him  more  protection  than  the  Union  Jack. 

After  Oom  Paul's  (for  he  was  called  Oom,  or  Uncle  by  all 
the  burghers)  humorous  introduction  of  the  conversation,  he 
settled  down  to  more  serious  things,  and  I  found  him  especially 
interested  in  the  progress  of  evangelical  religion  in  other  lands. 
Before  I  went  away  he  assured  me  that  any  one  who  came  to 
his  republic  to  advance  the  cause  of  Christ  and  of  Christian 
education  and  efficiency  was  welcome.  Speaking  of  his  own 
religious  experience,  he  told  me  how  much  he  was  indebted 
for  his  conversion  and  his  start  in  the  Christian  life,  to  a  mis- 
sionary of  the  American  Board  named  Lindsay,  who  was  sent 
out  to  the  Zulus,  but  who,  when  the  Zulu  wars  made  it  im- 
possible for  him  to  continue  his  work,  turned  to  the  Boers, 
and  was  most  helpful  in  holding  revival  meetings  among  them. 
"  Oh,  he  was  a  good  manj  he  was  a  good  man,"  repeated  Oom 
Paul  twice  over,  "  there  were  few  like  him." 


SOUTH    AFRICA    BEFORE    THE    BOER    WAR  IIT, 

My  impression  of  this  famous  character  in  African,  and  in- 
deed in  the  world's  history,  was  that  he  was  a  rough  diamond, 
but  a  real  oncj  ignorant  of  letters,  bigoted,  superstitious  per- 
haps, but  genuine  in  his  religious  belief,  unrivalled  in  his 
knowledge  of  the  burgher  heart,  and  sincere  in  his  devotion 
to  the  right,  as  God  gave  him  to  see  the  right. 

I  was  told  that  the  Bible  was  one  of  the  few  books  that 
he  could  read  fluently,  a  statement  which  seems  strange  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  it  would  seem  that  if  one  could  read 
any  book  "  all  print  would  be  open  to  him,"  as  Silas  Wegg 
would  say.  But  Paul  Kruger  was  so  familiar  with  the  Bible 
that  when  once  he  got  started  he  could  go  on  indefinitely,  verse 
after  verse,  and  in  some  parts  chapter  after  chapter.  It  was 
said  that  he  was  often  heard  praying  very  early  in  the  morning, 
and  reading  the  Scriptures  which  he  loved  so  well.  I  cannot 
believe  that  he  was  the  mercenary,  double-minded  man  that 
his  enemies  considered  him,  and  I  have  not  changed  my  opinion 
that  the  war  which  he  fought,  disastrous  as  it  was  to  him,  was 
an  unjust  and  cruel  war,  though  it  eventually  brought  many 
blessings  to  the  conquered  republics. 

Another  interesting  place  that  the  conventions  to  which  I 
was  scheduled  carried  me  was  Kimberley,  the  great  diamond 
region  of  the  world,  which  has  brought  untold  wealth  to  the 
members  of  the  De  Beers  Company,  and  unnumbered  jewels  to 
sparkle  in  the  rings  and  the  coronets  of  beauty.  A  number  of 
years  before  my  visit  a  little  child  was  seen  playing  with  some 
bright  white  stones  which  he  had  picked  up  in  the  sterile 
country  that  surrounded  his  father's  home.  One  of  these 
stones  was  built  into  the  mud  wall  of  their  little  home.  A 
passing  traveller  was  attracted  by  its  brilliance,  and  took  it  to 
a  jeweller,  who  pronounced  it  to  be  a  diamond  of  the  first 
water,  and  one  of  the  largest  ever  discovered.  At  once  the 
rush  began,  and  the  Kimberley  diamond  fields  were  soon  the 
centre  of  a  great  population.  Few  of  the  diamonds  however 
were  found  upon  the  surface  but  in  the  hard,  blue  clay  beneath. 


214 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 


even  to  the  depth  of  thousands  of  feet.  This  blue  clay  is  hoisted 
from  the  depths  of  the  mine  and  spread  out  upon  the  "  floors  " 
as  they  are  called,  great  stretches  of  level  land,  to  disintegrate 
in  the  sun  and  rain. 

These  floors  are  guarded  day  and  night  by  armed  men,  and 
one  is  not  allowed  to  pick  up  even  the  smallest  lump  of  blue 
clay,  for  it  may  contain  a  Kohinoor.  The  Zulus  in  the  mines, 
who  dig  the  clay,  virtually  endure  voluntary  imprisonment 
during  the  time  of  their  contract,  and  when  they  are  allowed 


Acres  of   Diamonds 

A  scene  in  the  diamond  room  of  one  of  the  large  mines  at  Kimberley,  South  Africa. 
One  of  these  parcels  of  diamonds  is  worth  ^300,000. 

to  leave  they  are  searched  most  diligently  for  diamonds  which 
they  may  have  tucked  under  their  lips,  or  in  their  nostrils,  or 
hidden  in  a  flesh  wound  made  on  purpose  for  its  reception,  or 
even  swallowed.  The  two  crimes  of  I.D.S.  and  I.D.B., 
"  Illicit  Diamond  Selling,"  and  "  Illicit  Diamond  Buying," 
are  the  most  serious  in  the  Kimberley  Decalogue. 

In  the  office  of  the  company  I  was  allowed  to  see  piles  of 
diamonds  of  different  weights  and  different  qualities.  Great 
shining  heaps  of  stones,  some  dull  and  looking  like  any  piece 
of  quartz,  and  others  glistening  .with  something  of  the  sparkle 


SOUTH    AFRICA    BEFORE    THE    BOER    WAR  215  i 

which  they  will  emit  after  they  have  been  in  the  hands  of  the  \ 

Amsterdam  lapidaries.  ' 

Bloemfontein,  the  capital  of  the  Orange  River  Free  State,  | 

was  another  interesting  town  in  this  South  African  tour.  Here 
I  happened  to  be  on  the  day  of  the  assembly  of  the  legislature 
of  the  Republic.  As  I  went  into  the  hall  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  the  legislators  marched  in  in  procession  for  the 
opening  session,  headed  by  President  Stein.     I  never  saw  such  i 

a  company  of  giants  in  any  other  legislative  hall.  Every  one 
looked  six  feet  tall  or  more.    Every  one  was  stalwart  in  propor-  i 

tion  to  his  height,  and  each  one  was  "  bearded  like  a  pard."  No  J 

wonder  that  a  race  represented  by  such  men  gave  the  great 
British  army  plenty  of  trouble  before  it  could  subdue  them.  I 
afterwards  had  an  interview  with  President  Stein,  who  struck 
me  as  an  agreeable  and  polished  gentleman.     He  had  been  i 

educated  in  European  universities,  unlike  his  brother  president 
of  the  Transvaal,  and  though  opinions  diflFer  in  regard  to  his 
career,    I    believe    him    to    have    been    honest,    conscientious,  ! 

patriotic,  and  a  worthy  president  of  the  little  republic  of  the 
Orange  River  Free  State. 

A  visit  on  this  journey  which  I  shall  long  remember  was  the 
one  to  Lovedale,  a  famous  school  for  the  sons  of  African 
chiefs,  founded  by  Dr.  James  Stewart  of  the  Free  Church  of 
Scotland.     Dr.  Stewart  has  since  died,  and  no  more  fragrant  ^ 

name  than  his,  not  even  excepting  Livingstone  and  Moffat,  is 
found  in  the  missionary  annals  of  Africa.  He  was  a  man  of 
remarkable  intellectual  power  and  much  personal  charm,  and  j 

his  school  was  a  thoroughly  Christian  institution  whose  in-  j 

fluence  reached  far  and  wide  among  the  leaders  of  many 
African  tribes.  ; 

I  happened  to  get  to  Lovedale  in  the  time  of  a  religious 
revival.    Many  of  the  boys  who  would  thereafter  have  a  large  j 

influence  in  wide  sections  of  Africa  had  found,  as  they  believed,  | 

the  way  of  life.     Dr.  Stewart  and  all  the  teachers  were  doing  i 

their    utmost    to    deepen    the    religious    conviction,    and    to 


2l6  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

strengthen  the  character  of  the  new  converts,  as  well  as  to  give 
them  the  elements  of  a  good  education.  I  was  particularly 
touched,  after  one  of  the  evangelistic  meetings,  to  see  the  little 
fair-haired  youngest  daughter  of  Dr.  Stewart  sitting  beside  a 
black  boy,  Bible  in  hand,  telling  him  in  simple  language  what 
it  was  to  be  a  Christian. 

It  was  at  this  school  that  I  had  the  experience  of  Gatling- 
gun  interpreting,  to  which  I  have  already  alluded,  where, 
after  I  had  spoken  a  sentence,  three  different  interpreters  in 
as  many  different  languages  took  it  up,  one  after  the  other, 
while  I  waited  patiently  for  the  third  to  finish  before  resuming 
my  discourse. 

Dr.  Taylor,  a  famous  Methodist  bishop,  who  had  striven  so 
valiantly  to  establish  self-supporting  missions  throughout 
Africa  was  visiting  Lovedale  at  the  same  time.  Though  in 
failing  health,  and  with  a  greatly  weakened  voice,  he  was  a 
most  entertaining  companion.  I  was  particularly  interested  in 
his  exposition  of  Psalm  103  at  family  prayers.  In  his  some- 
,what  breathless,  jerky  way,  for  he  had  no  breath  to  spare,  he 
read  the  Psalm,  commenting  as  he  went  along.  "  David 
talked  to  himself,  —  speaks  to  his  soul,  —  tells  himself  to 
bless  the  Lord,  —  gives  his  reasons  for  doing  it,  —  tells  him- 
self of  the  bigness  of  the  love  of  God,  —  states  its  perpendicu- 
lar measurement,  —  "  as  high  as  the  heavens  above  the  earth," 
its  horizontal  measurement,  — "  as  far  as  the  east  is  from 
the  west,"  —  its  affectional  measurement,  "  as  a  Father  pitieth 
his  children,"  and  so  on  with  a  pithy  comment  on  each  verse. 

Soon  after  I  saw  him  the  good  bishop  died,  mourned  by 
thousands  in  two  continents.  . 

Dr.  Stewart  was  as  genial  as  he  was  wise  and  strong,  and 
had  many  interesting  anecdotes  of  his  journeys  and  of  his  life 
in  Africa,  a  life  which  has  been  ably  set  forth  in  all  its  unusual 
richness  and  power  in  a  recent  biography.  One  of  Dr.  Stewart's 
characteristic  stories  related  to  a  voyage  on  a  steamer  of  the 
Peninsular  and  Oriental  line  (P.  &  O.  for  short)  from  Africa, 


SOUTH    AFRICA    BEFORE    THE    BOER    WAR  21'] 

a  steamer  of  a  line  which  I  have  had  occasion  to  know  is  more 
extreme  in  its  Church  of  England  rules  than  Canterbury 
Cathedral  itself.  On  this  voyage  Dr.  Stewart  was  returning 
home  with  a  large  number  of  other  missionaries  when  the 
captain  came  to  him  one  Sunday  morning  and  asked  if  there  was  • 
a  clergyman  on  board  to  conduct  the  morning  service,  "  Cer- 
tainly," said  Dr.  Stewart,  "  here  is  my  friend  Mr.  A.,  an 
eminent  Methodist  missionary,  and  Mr.  B.  of  the  Baptist 
Church,  and  Dr.  C.  a  well  known  Presbyterian  preacher,  and 
I  am  one  myself."  "  Oh,  I  meant  a  clergyman"  replied  the 
captain,  and  went  off  to  seek  one  of  his  own  denomination. 

This  proved  to  be  a  curate  with  a  stomach  as  weak  as  his 
preaching  powers.  Scarcely  had  the  service  begun,  when  the 
wind  arose  and  the  waves  became  somewhat  boisterous.  The 
poor  man  could  not  continue  the  service  beyond  the  Psalter, 
and  Dr.  Stewart  remarked  that  the  only  verse  of  poetry  he 
could  think  of  at  the  time  were  the  lines  on  the  burial  of  Sir 
John  Moore: 

"  Few  and  short  were  the  prayers  we  said, 
As  his  corse  to  the  ramparts  we  hurried." 

The  most  interesting  of  all  my  visits  on  this  journey  to 
South  Africa  was  the  one  to  what  might  be  called  "  The  Murray 
Belt,"  a  region  of  Cape  Colony  which  has  been  especially  in- 
fluenced by  the  life  of  Dr.  Andrew  Murray,  the  great  devo- 
tional writer,  his  ancestors,  and  his  descendants.  Andrew 
Murray  doubtless  influenced  and  deepened  the  spiritual  life 
of  more  Christian  people  than  almost  any  other  man  of  his 
century,  and  yet  his  pulpit  was  a  somewhat  obscure  one,  among 
the  Boer  farmers  of  Wellington.  But  his  books  have  "  gone 
forth  into  all  the  earth,"  and  he  surely  has  "  a  goodly  herit- 
age "  in  the  lives  of  a  multitude  who  rise  up  and  call  him 
blessed. 

A  decided  difference  in  the  spiritual  atmosphere  can  be  felt 
as  one  travels  south  from  Johannesburg  and  Kimberley.     The 


2l8 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 


prevailing  idea  in  those  quarters  twenty  years  ago,  at  least, 
was  to  get  rich,  and  to  "  get  rich  quick."  People  had  gone 
there  to  seek  gold  and  precious  stones,  and  to  raise  sheep  on  the 
wide  Veldt.  The  sturdy,  homely  virtues  of  the  Boers  were 
gradually  being  overshadowed  by  the  rush  of  immigrants  from 
different  parts  of  the  ,world,  who  sought  only  material  things, 
and  of  whom  it  might  be  said  that  religion  was  not  even  a 
by-product  of  their  lives. 


Parsonage  of  the  First  Andrew  Murray,  Graaf  Reinet,  Cape  Colony 
In  this  house  all  the  twelve  children  of  the  first  Andrew  Murray  were  born. 


But  as  one  drew  nearer  to  Capetown,  one  felt  the  difference 
in  the  spiritual  atmosphere.  Things  of  the  other  world  had 
more  significance,  and  righteousness,  charity,  and  good  will 
had  a  larger  meaning.  Not  that  there  were  not  many  earnest 
Christians  and  much  religious  work  done  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  gold  mines  and  the  diamond  fields,  but  I  am  speaking  of 
the  general  atmosphere. 

It  is  worth  while  to  tell  briefly  the  story  of  this  remarkable 


SOUTH    AFRICA    BEFORE    THE    BOER    WAR  219 

family  that  has  largely  brought  this  change,  and  has  made 
many  parts  of  Cape  Colony  centres  of  genuine  and  deep  re- 
ligious interest. 

Something  over  a  hundred  years  ago  the  Dutch  farmers 
of  Cape  Colony  became  distressed  at  the  rationalistic  teaching 
of  their  pastors,  who  had  been  educated  in  Holland.  Fearing 
for  its  effect  upon  their  children,  they  sent  to  Scotland  for  a 
preacher  who  was  sound  in  the  faith,  who  believed  in  the  Bible 
and  would  preach  earnestly  the  accepted  truths  of  evangelical 
religion. 

A  young  man  named  Andrew  Murray  was  sent  out  to  them. 
He  had  a  particularly  youthful  face,  and  the  old  Dutch 
farmers  said  one  to  another.  "  They  have  sent  out  a  girl  to 
preach  to  us."  But  the  first  Andrew  Murray  proved  to  be  a 
man,  and  a  man  of  stalwart  stuff,  who  soon  showed  by  his 
preaching,  strong  and  courageous  and  earnest,  that  he  was  the 
man  they  needed.  While  in  the  Adderly  Street  Dutch  Re- 
formed Church,  a  church  which  is  still  flourishing,  and  where 
I  have  spoken  on  more  than  one  occasion,  the  young  preacher 
from  Scotland  saw  a  fair  Dutch  girl  who  attracted  his  atten- 
tion. He  was  at  the  impressionable  age  which  sooner  or  later 
comes  to  most  young  men,  and,  to  make  a  long  story  short,  he 
wooed  and  won  this  fair  girl,  and,  as  a  bride  of  only  sixteen 
years  of  age,  carried  her  off  to  the  parsonage  in  Graaf  Reinet, 
a  flourishing  village  in  an  oasis  of  the  Karoo,  or  desert  lands 
of  South  Africa. 

Here  a  family  of  seventeen  children  were  born,  twelve  of 
whom  lived  to  grow  up,  and  I  was  told,  when  in  Graaf  Reinet, 
that  each  of  these  children  averaged  twelve  children  of  their 
own,  though  some  had  several  more.  Most  of  them  grew  up  to 
manhood  and  womanhood,  and  became  preachers  or  preachers' 
wives,  missionaries,  or  teachers,  or  religious  workers  of  emi- 
nence in  some  sphere,  scattering  all  over  South  Africa  and 
making  their  influence  felt  for  good  wherever  they  went. 

The  most  eminent  of  the  first  Andrew  Murray's  children 


220  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

was  Andrew  Murray  the  second,  of  whom  I  have  already 
spoken,  the  world-renowned  preacher,  writer,  and  religious 
leader.  All  the  children,  however,  inherited,  and,  apparently, 
chiefly  from  their  mother,  unusual  spiritual  qualities.  She 
was  one  of  the  rare  women  with  a  heavenly  vision,  a  mystic 
of  the  best  type,  who  could  see  far  into  the  skies,  and  genuinely 
commune  with  her  God. 

A  homely  but  touching  incident  was  told  me  of  Grandma 
Murray,  as  she  was  affectionately  called,  who  had  died  but  a 
few  years  before  my  visit  to  the  "  Murray  Belt."  When  a 
visitor  would  say  to  her,  "  How  did  it  happen,  Grandma,  that 
you  brought  up  such  a  large  family,  and  that  they  have  all 
turned  out  so  well?  "  She  would  say,  "  Oh,  I  do  not  knowj  I 
never  said  much,  and  I  never  did  very  much,  but  just  tried 
to  live  as  well  as  I  could!  "  That  was  all  so  far  as  she  could 
tell  it  perhaps,  but  how  much  it  involved  of  gentleness  and 
lovingkindness,  of  prayer  and  righteous  living,  and  personal 
communion  with  God! 

The  youngest  of  the  seventeen  sons  and  daughters,  and  the 
last  survivor  of  this  wonderful  family  was  George  Murray, 
who  died  in  the  early  days  of  192 1.  I  have  recently  seen 
a  picture  of  him  and  his  wife  and  their  fifteen  interesting 
children,  taken  about  the  time  when  I  was  in  South  Africa.  All 
of  those  boys  and  girls  and  young  men  and  women,  were 
bright,  interesting,  good-looking  and  well  dressed,  and  almost 
all  are  now  full-time  Christian  workers.  Blessed  is  the  man 
who  hath  his  quiver  full  of  such  children.  I  am  glad  there  was 
no  birth  control  in  that  family. 

I  felt  honored  to  spend  a  night  or  two  under  that  roof  in 
Graaf  Reinet,  where  all  of  the  Murray  children  of  the  first 
generation  were  born,  and  to  be  the  guest  for  a  short  time  of 
Andrew  Murray  of  Wellington.  This  is  the  Northfield  of 
South  Africa.  Here  Dr.  Murray  established  a  splendid  school 
for  the  higher  education  of  women,  a  school  in  which  Americans 
may  well  take  pride,  for  it  was  inspired  by  the  life  of  Mary 


SOUTH    AFRICA    BEFORE    THE    BOER    WAR 


221 


Lyon,  and  was  modelled  after  old  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary. 
Its  chief  building  was  given  by  a  philanthropic  American  of 
Worcester,  Mass.,  and  its  earliest  teachers  and  many  of  its 
later  ones  have  been  Americans j  Miss  Ferguson  and  Miss 
Bliss,  both  graduates  of  Mt.  Holyoke,  I  think,  being  the 
pioneer  teachers.  Miss  Bliss,  too,  is  the  pioneer  Endeavorer  of 
South  Africa  and  long  the  secretary  of  the  South  African 
Christian  Endeavor  Union.     Other  similar  schools  have  been 


George  Murray's  Family  with  Fifteen  Children 
Photograph  taken  some  years  ago. 

established  at  Worcester,  Stellenbosch,  the  Paarl,  and  Bloem- 
fontein,  all  receiving  their  inspiration  from  the  same  source, 
and  many  of  them  employing  teachers  from  America. 

Dr.  Murray's  influence  was  not  only  that  of  a  great  evan- 
gelist and  devotional  writer,  but  of  an  eminent  educator  as  well. 
Though  nearing  ninety  when  he  died,  he  was,  when  I  last 
saw  him,  still  bright  and  sprightly,  his  face  shining  not  only 
with  a  heavenly  light,  but  with  genuine,  human  good  fellow- 
ship.    The  last  time  I  went  to  South  Africa,  though  I  could 


222  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

not  visit  Wellington,  he  journeyed  to  Capetown  on  purpose  to 
give  an  address  of  welcome  at  the  impromptu  convention  that 
was  held  there,  and  it  was  an  address  as  cordial,  genial,  and 
witty  as  one  could  wish  to  hear. 

Soon  after  my  visits  to  the  Murray  Country  I  sailed  from 
Capetown,  a  most  interesting  city,  superbly  situated  j  up  the 
long,  long  coast  of  Africa,  into  the  Solent  and  Southampton 
harbor,  and  there,  on  the  pier,  after  seven  months'  absence,  a 
mother  with  two  larger  children  and  two  smaller  ones  waited 
to  welcome  husband  and  father,  back  from  his  long  voyage. 


Chapter  XXI 
Year  1900 

CHINA    IN    THE    GRIP    OF    THE  BOXERS 

A  CALL  ON   COUNT  OKUMA CHINa's   INTERESTING   CONVEN- 
TION  REASONS   FOR  THE    BOXER   UPRISING A   PRAYER 

FOR    RAIN BRAVE    MISSIONARIES THE    MASSACRES    AT 

PAOTINGFU HORACE    PITKIN  MARY    MORRILL. 

T  HAS  been  our  lot  to  visit  many  countries 
both  before  and  since  the  journey  of  which 
I  am  about  to  write,  on  the  eve  of  critical 
events  or  during  the  course  of  troubles  and 
disasters  which  have  been  regarded  as  world- 
wide calamities.  For  example,  the  visit  to 
Turkey,  which  I  have  already  described,  took  place  just 
before  the  Armenian  massacres j  the  journey  to  India  dur- 
ing the  year  of  plague  and  famine  j  a  visit  to  Jamaica  which 
I  will  describe  later,  while  the  earth  was  still  trembling  with 
one  of  the  greatest  earthquakes  of  recorded  history  j  a  visit  to 
Europe  within  two  months  of  the  breaking  out  of  the  Great 
War,  another  soon  after  its  conclusion  j  and  a  journey  in  China 
in  1916  when  the  rebellion  against  Yuan  Shi  Kai's  imperial 
plans  was  going  on,  and  province  after  province  was  rising 
against  his  rule. 

This  journey  to  the  Far  East  at  the  beginning  of  the  present 
century  was  no  exception  to  the  rule,  though  when  we  left 
home  to  attend  the  national  Christian  Endeavor  conventions  of 
Japan  and  China,  early  in  the  year  1900,  there  were  no  un- 
usual clouds  in  the  sky  so  far  as  we  knew,  and  we  had  no  idea 
of  the  terrible  scenes  of  massacre  and  pillage  which  were  soon 

223 


224  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

to  rock  China  to  its  foundations,  and  which  we  barely  escaped 
witnessing,  if  not  sharing. 

On  this  occasion  we  were  accompanied  by  our  second  son, 
Harold,  who  was  the  only  one  of  the  trio  who,  without  respon- 
sibilities or  forecast  of  danger,  thoroughly  enjoyed  the  un- 
usual experiences  that  awaited  us. 

I  recollect  nothing  of  special  moment  connected  with  our 
visit  to  Japan  on  this  occasion,  except  that  we  renewed  the  ac- 
quaintance of  many  dear  friends  of  the  past  belonging  to  the 
missionary  boards,  and  enjoyed  many  delightful  meetings  with 
Japanese  Christians. 

I  recall  a  delightful  interview  with  the  late  Count  Okuma, 
who  was  always  especially  hospitable  to  Americans.  This 
pleasure  has  twice  been  repeated  since,  and  I  always  found 
him  the  same  genial,  courteous,  and  interesting  host  as  have 
hundreds  of  others.  He  showed  us  on  this  occasion  his  famous 
collection  of  Chrysanthemums  and  of  dwarf  trees,  some  of 
which  were  a  hundred  years  old,  and  yet  not  too  large  to  grace 
a  dinner  table,  while  little  evergreens  of  six  or  seven  years 
found  ample  room  in  a  flower  pot  not  much  larger  than  a  lady's 
thimble. 

His  beautiful  villa  is  built  in  two  sections,  one  with  lofty 
rooms,  elegant  furniture,  and  costly  bric-a-brac,  in  the  Eu- 
ropean style,  another  part  in  the  plain,  and  charmingly  simple 
Japanese  fashion,  with  soft  mattings  on  the  floors,  sliding 
partitions  which  serve  for  doors  as  well,  paper  walls,  and  the 
severe  simplicity  which  rules  in  the  ordinary  Japanese  house- 
holds. Here  pictures  are  not  hung  in  profusion,  remaining 
year  after  year  in  the  same  place  on  drawing  room  walls  as 
with  us,  but  a  simple  Kakemono  or  scroll,  particularly  appropri- 
ate to  the  season,  is  hung  for  a  month  at  a  time^  and  then  rolled 
up  to  give  way  to  a  more  appropriate  scroll. 

The  year  1900  was  "  the  Year  of  the  Dog,"  for  every  year 
in  Japan  is  named  in  cycles  for  some  animal  like  the  dog,  the 
pig,  the  horse,  the  dragon,  or  the  snake  and  the  Count  gave  our 


CHINA    IN    THE    GRIP    OF    THE    BOXERS  ;225 

twelve-year-old  son  two  little  ivory  dogs  exquisitely  carved, 
taking  them  from  the  mantel-piece  in  his  drawing  room.  I 
was  surprised  on  visiting  him  sixteen  years  later  to  have  the 
Count  inquire  for  the  lad  whom  he  still  thought  of  as  a  little 
boy,  who  was  with  me  on  the  first  visit,  showing  that  this 
great  statesman  had  something  of  the  quality  which  has  made 
some  of  our  own  statesmen  famous  and  beloved,  the  quality 
of  remembering  not  only  names  but  little  events  and  small 
items  in  the  lives  of  their  constituents. 

Count  Okuma  was  then  out  of  office,  and  had  long  been  in 
opposition  to  the  government,  but  .whether  in  office  or  out, 
he  always  seemed  to  be  the  same  genial  and  friendly  personage, 
a  rare  conversationalist,  but  never  too  busy  or  too  intent  to 
listen  to  what  his  visitors  might  have  to  impart. 

After  leaving  Japan  the  journey  from  Shanghai  to  Foochow 
was  one  to  be  remembered,  and  especially  the  return  voyage, 
because  of  the  misery  involved  on  a  little  cockle-shell  of  a 
steamer  in  a  rough  sea.  Shortly  after  that  the  steamer  went 
to  the  bottom,  and  as  I  believe  no  lives  were  lost,  no  tears  v/ere 
shed  for  the  departure  to  "  Davy  Jones'  Locker  "  of  this  chief 
instigator  of  seasickness. 

A  prayer  meeting  held  on  the  way  down  with  the  Chinese 
delegates  in  the  cabin  was  attended  by  the  English  captain, 
who  was  an  earnest  Christian  and  who  showed  his  colors,  and 
spoke  some  earnest  words  to  the  delegates  gathered  in  the 
little  cabin. 

I  remember  an  interesting  story  that  he  afterwards  related, 
to  show  how  difficult  it  is  for  a  foreigner  to  tell  from  a  China- 
man's looks  whether  he  is  an  ordinary  coolie  or  a  grand  Mogul 
in  his  own  district,  since,  in  every-day  business,  their  clothes 
are  much  alike.  On  one  of  the  voyages  down  the  coast,  a 
certain  English  captain  was  much  annoyed  by  the  many  ques- 
tions and  apparent  officiousness  of  one  of  the  Chinese  pas- 
sengers, who  seemed  to  be  anxious  to  know  about  everything 
on  board,  and  who  was  finding  much  fault  with  conditions  as 


226  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

they  were.  The  captain  endured  it  as  long  as  he  thought  he 
could,  but  at  last,  his  wrath  getting  the  better  of  his  judgment, 
he  kicked  his  inquisitive  passenger  down  the  companion  way, 
only  to  learn  before  the  voyage. was  over,  that  he  had  kicked 
one  of  the  chief  owners  of  the  steamship  line. 

The  most  memorable  meeting  we  attended  in  China  was 
held  in  Foochow.  Endeavor  had  taken  root  there  in  1 884,  and 
had  greatly  increased  in  the  years  intervening  before  our  visit. 
I  shall  never  forget  that  great  audience  of  blue-gowned 
Chinese  men  who  stood  up  as  one  man  when  I  first  rose  to  speak, 
and  putting  their  hands  high  over  their  heads,  shook  them 
silently  but  vigorously  at  me,  without  a  sound  of  any  descrip- 
tion. Of  course  I  did  the  same,  and  in  half  a  minute  we  had  all 
shaken  hands,  and  were  presumably  introduced  to  each  other. 

A  unique  gavel  was  given  me  at  this  convention  by  Rev. 
George  H.  Hubbard,  a  young  missionary  who  had  formed  the 
first  Christian  Endeavor  society  in  China  in  1885.  The  head 
consisted  of  a  piece  of  a  beam  of  the  house  in  which  the  first 
society  met,  a  building  which  had  since  been  torn  down,  while 
the  handle  was  a  stout  twig  from  a  mulberry  tree  planted  in 
the  yard  at  the  inauguration  of  the  society.  Beam  and  tree  had 
been  carefully  preserved  as  memorials.  He  also  presented  me 
with  a  small  Chinese  drum  on  which  to  strike  the  gavel,  as  a 
reminder  of  the  name  first  used  for  the  society,  a  name  which 
in  English  signified  "  The  Drum-Around-and-Rouse-up 
Society.^^     Not  a  bad  name  for  others  to  remember. 

At  that  time  all  the  missions,  Methodists,  Church  of  Eng- 
land, and  American  Congregationalists,  united  in  Christian 
Endeavor,  but  before  long  the  Methodist  societies  were  noti- 
fied by  the  home  bishops  that  they  must  withdraw  from  this 
fellowship  and  form  Epworth  Leagues  and  unions  of  their 
own.  It  seemed  to  me  at  the  time,  and  still  seems,  exceedingly 
strange,  to  say  the  least,  that  in  missionary  lands  if  nowhere 
else,  a  fellowship  among  the  comparatively  few  young 
Christians  should  be  thus  ruthlessly  uprooted. 


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CHINA    IN    THE    GRIP    OF    THE    BOXERS  229 

I  am  glad  to  report  that  In  Japan,  on  the  contrary,  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Young  People's  societies  have  always 
retained  the  Christian  Endeavor  name  and  fellowship,  owing 
largely  to  the  good  Bishop  Harris,  and  also  to  other  leaders 
in  union  work  in  that  land. 

One  incident  impressed  itself  upon  my  mind  particularly, 
as  showing  the  language  difficulties  which  missionaries  and 
others  have  to  meet,  where,  as  sometimes  happens,  entirely 
different  dialects  are  spoken  on  different  sides  of  the  same  river. 
Most  of  the  delegates  at  this  convention  understood  the 
Foochow  dialect,  which  however  was  "  all  Greek  "  to  some. 
Others  understood  only  the  Mandarin,  ,while  some  missionaries 
understood  both  languages,  so  while  one  of  the  native  delegates 
was  speaking  in  Mandarin,  an  American  missionary  translated 
it  into  English,  while  another  missionary  interpreted  his  trans- 
lation into  Foochowese. 

A  pleasant  incident  was  a  journey  up  the  charming  Ing  Hok 
River  to  the  mission  station  of  Ing  Hok,  a  journey  partly  by 
house-boat,  partly  by  bearers,  until  we  reached  the  river  bankj 
then  by  house-boat  up  the  stiff  current  of  the  river 5  then  by 
sampan,  sitting  on  the  bottom  of  the  little  boat  under  an  arch 
of  matting j  then  by  bearers  again  along  the  bank  of  the  river, 
in  a  rough  home-made  country  chair,  to  our  destination.  It 
was  very  difficult  in  those  days  to  obtain  stalwart  chair  bearers, 
for  the  opium  habit  had  made  such  inroads  on  the  population, 
and  so  many  of  the  coolies  spent  their  days  and  nights  in  opium 
dens,  so  weakening  their  constitutions  that  it  was  sometimes 
impossible  to  obtain  bearers  enough  for  a  large  party. 

Those  that  could  be  obtained  always  picked  for  the  lightest 
members  of  the  party,  fat  women  being  at  a  special  discount 
among  them.  Now  however,  the  opium  curse  has  been  largely 
stamped  out,  owing  to  the  vigorous  measures  adopted  by  the 
Chinese  government,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  much  of  the  drug 
was  for  years  forced  upon  China  by  the  iniquitous  insistence  of 
British  India. 


230  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

The  scenery  on  the  Ing  Hok  River  and  the  lower  waters 
of  the  River  Min  on  which  Foochow  is  situated  is  among  the 
grandest  in  the  world.  Indeed  there  is  magnificent  scenery 
enough,  as  one  has  said,  if  it  were  well  distributed,  to  serve 
all  the  continents  of  the  world. 

It  was  with  reluctance  that  we  left  our  kind  friends  of 
Foochow  and  turned  our  faces  northward,  voyaging  to  Shanghai 
on  the  same  little  steamer  that  took  us  down  the  coast,  but  on 
a  far  rougher  voyage. 

At  Shanghai  we  took  another  steamer  and  enjoyed  a  pleasant 
trip  to  Taku,  the  Port  of  Tientsin  and  Peking.  There  the 
first  full  realization  of  the  storm  that  was  about  to  break  over 
China  came  to  us.  The  missionary  friend  who  was  expecting 
to  meet  us  at  the  wharf  was  delayed  for  some  reason,  and  we 
were  attacked  by  a  horde  of  scowling,  yelling  coolies  who 
seemed  to  menace  our  lives.  It  is  true  that  these  particular 
coolies  only  wanted  the  privilege  of  carrying  our  baggage  for 
a  sufficient  remuneration,  but  hatred  of  foreigners  was  in  their 
eyes  and  deepened  their  ugly  scowl,  though  the  time  had  not 
quite  come  for  them  to  put  their  evil  designs  into  execution. 

Not  being  able  to  speak  a  word  of  their  language,  we  found 
it  difficult  to  negotiate  terms  with  this  howling  mob,  but  at 
last  made  it  plain  what  we  wanted  and  were  soon  bowling  in 
jinrikishas  to  the  railway  station,  .where  the  waiting  train 
shortly  landed  us  in  Tientsin.  We  found  the  state  of  affairs 
there  far  more  serious  than  we  had  supposed,  or  than  any 
one  outside  of  China  then  knew.  The  faces  of  the  non- 
Christian  Chinamen  in  the  presence  of  foreigners  was  one  vast 
scowl  of  hatred,  throughout  northern  China.  Most  absurd 
stories  were  in  circulation  about  the  foreigners.  "  Western  rail- 
roads were  desecrating  the  graves."  "  Under  every  sleeper  a 
Chinese  baby  was  buried."  "  The  eyes  of  Chinese  children 
were  plucked  out  to  make  foreign  medicine."  "  The  dragon 
god  was  dreadfully  offended  by  the  encroachment  of  the  for- 
eigner." 


CHINA    IN    THE    GRIP    OF    THE    BOXERS  23 1 

Heaven  knows  that  the  Chinese  had  reason  enough  for  hating 
many  of  the  foreigners  ,who  came  to  their  shores.  They  had 
filched  from  them  some  of  the  richest  portions  of  their  father- 
land. They  had  forced  treaties  upon  them  against  their  will 
and  to  their  disadvantage.  Individual  Europeans  had  treated 
them  with  indignity  and  contempt  times  without  number.  I 
had  myself  seen  in  the  French  Concession  at  Shanghai  a  for- 
eign policeman  brutally  kick  a  poor,  timid  Chinaman  whose 
jinrikisha  was  a  few  feet  across  a  boundary  line  near  the  steam- 
ship pier,  and  then  smash  his  jinrikisha,  his  only  means  of 
living,  into  kindling  wood.  Such  abuses  had  taken  place  every 
day  for  years  in  some  parts  of  China. 

Though  the  Boxers  did  not  ascribe  their  uprising  to  the  real 
causes,  their  indignation  against  Europeans  which  the  wily 
Empress  utilized  with  such  deadly  effect,  was  natural  enough. 

Added  to  these  causes  for  the  inevitable  uprising,  a  most  seri- 
ous drought  affected  the  whole  of  north  China,  and  famine 
stared  the  coolies  in  the  face.  It  was  so  dry  that  they  could  not 
plough  their  fields,  so  they  had  the  more  time  to  give  to  local 
politics,  and  to  planning  the  revenge  which  they  had  so  long 
cherished. 

In  the  course  of  our  first  evening  in  Tientsin  the  missionaries 
gathered  for  prayer  in  view  of  the  ominous  events  which 
threatened,  and  I  remember  especially  the  prayers  of  Dr. 
Arthur  Smith,  the  gifted  author,  and  his  wife,  that  rain  might 
speedily  come  to  turn  the  attention  of  the  Boxers  away  from 
thoughts  of  vengeance  and  to  their  ploughed  fields.  Before  the 
meeting  was  over,  as  if  in  answer  to  our  prayers,  the  heavens 
grew  dark  and  a  light  rain  began  to  fall.  But  alas,  it  was  not 
enough  thoroughly  to  wet  the  soil,  and  ploughing  could  not 
be  begun.  Even  then,  many  of  the  missionaries,  accustomed  to 
the  kindly  attitude  of  the  Christians  for  whom  they  worked, 
could  not  believe  that  serious  trouble  was  coming,  and  as- 
sured me  that  they  had  little  fear  of  it.  Hon.  Lionel  Drew, 
who,  next  to  Sir  Robert  Hart,  was  then  the  chief  man  in 


232  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Chinese  financial  affairs,  told  me  that  to  him  the  outlook 
seemed  very  dark,  and  he  thought  the  Boxers  would  soon  do 
their  worst. 

This  opinion,  however,  was  not  shared  by  the  officials  in 
Peking.  Mr.  Conger,  then  our  minister  plenipotentiary  to 
China,  told  me  he  thought  there  was  very  little  danger  of  an 
uprising,  while  Mrs.  Conger  told  us  of  her  recent  visit  to  the 
Empress  who  had  been  particularly  gracious  and  kind,  and 
showed  us  rolls  of  rich  silk,  and  a  curious  and  very  expensive 
ring  which  the  Empress  had  just  given  her.  Doubtless  that 
astute  old  ruler  was  trying  to  put  to  sleep  the  suspicions  of  the 
foreigners,    that   she    might    work    her    evil    purposes    more 

securely. 

In  Peking  a  lull  before  the  storm  prevailed.  The  ill  feel- 
ing, perhaps  because  of  the  instructions  of  the  Empress,  was 
less  outwardly  manifested.  Still,  the  Boxers  were  practising 
their  curious  gymnastics  in  all  parts  of  the  city,  and  brandish- 
ing their  spears  and  their  long  knives  when  they  came  to- 
gether  for  their  nightly  evolutions. 

There  was  little  secrecy  about  these  meetings.  Indeed  one 
of  the  Christians  offered  to  bring  a  company  of  Boxers  into 
the  missionary  compound  that  we  might  see  their  gymnastics 
and  their  drill.  This  honor,  however,  the  missionaries  declined 
with  thanks,  but  in  an  open  space  not  far  from  the  compound 
I  saw  them  perform,  and  there  seemed  to  be  nothing  very 
dreadful  or  startling  in  their  practice.  They  were  for  the 
most  part  fanatics,  and  of  the  lowest  type  of  coolies,  who  be- 
lieved that  their  exercises  would  make  them  impervious  to 
foreign  bullets,  a  belief  that  was  dispelled  as  soon  as  fight- 
ing actually  began. 

I  was  impressed  during  my  stay  in  Peking  by  the  fearless 
courage  of  the  missionaries.  Realizing,  as  many  of  them  did, 
the  perils  which  beset  them,  they  went  about  their  ordinary 
work  calmly  and  cheerfully.  To  the  meetings  I  addressed,  at 
one  of  which   Minister  Conger  presided,  some   of  the  lady 


CHINA    IN    THE    GRIP    OF    THE    BOXERS 


233 


missionaries  came  in  jinrikishas  or  on  bicycles,  travelling  several 
miles  through  the  dark  streets  in  order  to  get  to  the  meeting. 


A  Chinese  Soldier  in  the  Regular  Army  in   1900,  Just  Before  the  Boxer 

Rebellion 

This  man  belongs  to  the  cavalry  and  is  practising  his  craft  on  a  wooden  horse. 

At  a  gathering  in  Tungcho,  one  o£  the  principal  mission  sta- 
tions, a  few  miles  from  Peking,  a  native  pastor  while  I  was 


234  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

speaking  broke  into  the  chapel,  all  excited  and  breathless,  and 
said  that  he  had  been  attacked  and  beaten  by  Boxers  at  the  city 
gate.  He  was  naturally  afraid  to  go  home  alone,  so  one  of 
the  missionaries  accompanied  him,  and  met  with  no  mishap. 

While  all  were  courageous,  two  or  three  names  stand  out  as 
heroes  of  the  siege  which  soon  followed.  Among  these  was 
my  dear  friend  and  interpreter  at  many  a  meeting.  Dr.  W.  S. 
Ament.  He  proved  to  be  one  of  the  generals  of  the  occasion, 
and,  as  Mr.  Squires,  the  Secretary  of  Legation  afterwards  told 
me,  was  worth  more  than  any  professedly  military  man  be- 
longing to  any  of  the  legations.  Dr.  Ament  was  afterwards 
cruelly  attacked  by  Mark  Twain,  and  charged  with  looting  the 
helpless  Chinese,  whereas  the  true  facts  were  that  he  did  more 
to  help  the  homeless  Chinese  after  the  siege  was  over,  to  re- 
store order  and  good  feeling,  than  almost  any  other  man. 

Mark  Twain's  absurd  and  baseless  charges  were  founded 
upon  a  newspaper  falsehood,  and  when  he  was  informed  of 
the  fact,  and  the  charges  were  disproved,  he  did  not  have  the 
manliness  or  the  magnanimity  to  retract  them,  but  said  that  if 
a  man  was  fool  enough  to  be  a  missionary  he  believed  he  was 
fool  enough  to  do  any  other  unaccountable  deed. 

Another  hero  of  the  siege  was  Dr.  Gamewell  of  the  Metho- 
dist Board  of  Missions,  who  was  even  more  conspicuous  in  the 
public  eye  than  Dr.  Ament.  He  had  intended  to  go  home  in 
a  few  weeks,  and,  as  ordinary  means  of  travel  by  sea  were  likely 
to  be  interrupted,  he  proposed  to  me  that  we  should  make  up 
a  little  caravan  and  cross  the  Desert  of  Gobi  together  until  we 
should  reach  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway.  He  found  diffi- 
culty, however,  in  getting  his  passport  from  the  Russian 
government,  and  so,  very  fortunately  for  the  besieged  for- 
eigners in  Peking,  we  were  not  able  to  carry  out  our  plans, 
and  he  was  caught  in  the  besieged  city,  from  which  I  barely 
escaped. 

A  memorable  visit  of  these  days  in  north  China  was  to  Pao- 
tingfu  a  large  city  situated  about  a  hundred  miles  to  the  west 


CHINA    IN    THE    GRIP    OF    THE    BOXERS  235 

of  Peking.  This  soon  became  known  as  "  the  city  of  the 
martyrs,"  for  every  missionary  of  the  three  boards,  the  Congre- 
gational, the  Presbyterian,  and  the  China  Inland  Mission,  with 
their  families,  some  twenty  people  in  all  were  murdered  a  few 
days  after  our  visit. 

The  story  of  Horace  Pitkin  will  always  be  a  classic  in  mis- 
sionary annals.  He  was  young,  handsome,  and  brilliant,  with 
considerable  property  of  his  own,  while  his  wife  was  also  well- 
to-do.  One  of  the  most  popular  men  of  the  Yale  class  of  which 
he  was  a  member,  a  good  scholar  and  prominent  in  athletics, 
he  seemed  to  have  everything  that  heart  could  wish  in  his  own 
land.  But  feeling  the  call  of  the  Master,  he  gave  his  life  to 
China,  and  had  been  there  but  a  very  few  years  when  the 
troubles  of  which  I  am  telling  broke  out,  and,  in  defending 
the  ladies  of  the  mission  from  the  Boxers,  he  was  himself 
slain.     It  is  said  that  his  head  was  displayed  on  the  city  walls. 

An  equally  noble  spirit  of  that  same  mission  was  Miss  Mary 
Morrill  who  had  come  from  Portland,  Me.,  my  old  home, 
together  with  her  comrade,  Miss  Anna  Gould.  Miss  Morrill 
was  a  favorite  in  missionary  circles  in  America  from  her  inter- 
esting and  winsome  addresses,  and  we  learned  the  secret  of 
her  power  both  with  her  audiences  at  home  and  with  her 
Chinese  converts,  as  we  spent  a  few  days  in  the  same  missionary 
compound  at  Paotingfu.  It  was  the  secret  of  a  gentle,  loving. 
Christian  heart,  and  was  well  illustrated  by  an  old  Chinese 
woman,  homeless  and  friendless,  who  had  been  ostracised  by 
her  family  and  friends  when  she  became  a  Christian.  One  day 
she  came  to  Miss  Morrill  and  asked  her  if  she  thought  friends 
would  know  each  other  in  heaven.  "  Yes,"  answered  Miss 
Morrill,  "  I  think  they  will."  "  Well,"  replied  the  old  woman, 
"  I  want  to  sit  near  you  in  heaven  and  take  hold  of  your  hand 
once  in  a  while,"  a  wish  which  I  believe  may  soon  have  been 
fulfilled,  for  both  were  massacred  by  the  Boxers. 

Miss  Morrill  was  seized  and  carried  out  of  the  mission 
compound  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Pitkin,  and  it  is  said  was 


236  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

taken  to  a  heathen  temple  where  she  was  murdered,  with  what 
cruelty  and  indignities  we  do  not  know.  But  the  Boxers  after- 
ward said  that  she  was  courageous  and  thoughtful  for  others 
until  the  very  last,  giving  away  the  Chinese  cash  she  had  in 
her  pocket  to  the  little  beggar  boys  who  always  swarm  about 
one  in  China,  saying  to  them,  "You  can  have  these;  I  shall 
not  want  them  any  longer."  So  thoughtful  and  considerate 
was  she  to  the  very  end.  I  have  recently  been  told  that  the 
famous  Chinese  Christian  General  Feng,  who  has  won  so 
many  victories  for  the  side  of  law  and  order,  witnessed  Miss 
Morrill's  martyrdom,  and,  because  of  her  courage  and  stead- 
fastness, became  a  devoted  Christian.  He  has  introduced 
Christian  Endeavor  into  his  army  and  formed  societies  among 
both  officers  and  men. 

Miss  Gould  died  with  equal  heroism,  as  did  also  the  Presby- 
terian missionaries  in  the  compound  on  the  other  side  of  the 
city,  which  we  also  visited  more  than  once.  The  buildings  of 
this  mission  were  set  on  fire  by  the  Boxers,  the  missionaries 
driven  out  and  killed  before  the  very  eyes  of  their  little 
children,  who  soon  suffered  the  same  fate,  and  it  was  said  with 
as  much  genuine  heroism  as  their  parents  displayed. 

On  our  last  day  in  Paotingfu  we  made  a  final  visit  to  the 
Presbyterian  compound. 

Miss  Morrill  had  provided  a  Sedan  chair  for  Mrs.  Clark, 
as  being  more  comfortable  than  the  Chinese  cart.  The  regular 
chair  coolies  who  belonged  on  the  compound  being  away  that 
day,  she  had  sent  out  for  some  street  coolies  to  act  as  bearers. 
They  came  in,  two  rough,  coarse-looking  men,  with  their 
trousers  hanging  down,  loose  and  untied,  and  their  queues 
rolled  up  into  a  pug  on  the  back  of  their  heads,  and  a  scowl  on 
their  faces. 

Miss  Morrill  said  that  they  did  not  look  right,  and  their 
trousers  must  be  tied  neatly  around  their  ankles,  and  their 
queues  hanging  down  as  usual.  The  coolies,  with  cross  looks, 
objected,  and  Mrs.  Clark  said  it  was  no  matter,  let  it  go;  they 


CHINA    IN    THE    GRIP    OF    THE    BOXERS  237 

could  carry  her  just  as  well  one  way  as  another  and  if  they  were 
more  comfortable  with  their  hair  bobbed  up  in  that  way  and 
their  trousers  loose,  it  did  not  make  any  difference.  But  Miss 
Morrill,  who  knew  Chinese  custom,  said  it  must  not  bej  that 
this  was  a  mark  of  disrespect  and  discourtesy  j  that  it  was  rude 
and  impolite  and  the  men  knew  it  and  knew  that  she  knew  it. 
She  talked  with  them  a  little,  pleasantly  but  firmly,  and  in  a 
few  minutes  they  had  not  only  made  themselves  neat  and  tidy 
as  she  desired,  but  had  done  it  pleasantly,  and  started  off  with 
a  laugh,  and  good  cheer.  It  was  a  remarkable  example  of  the 
power  of  mind  over  matter,  that  that  quiet,  gentle  little  woman 
could  not  only  make  those  rough  men  do  her  will,  but  could 
make  them  do  it  pleasantly  and  cheerfully. 

The  cart  in  which  my  little  son  and  I  were  riding  broke  down 
while  going  through  the  city,  and  Mrs.  Clark's  bearers,  pre- 
tending to  be  tired,  set  her  down  near  the  river  bank,  and  began 
to  jeer  at  her  as  a  foreign  woman,  and  make  unpleasant  re- 
marks to  their  companions  who  gathered  around.  After  a 
while,  much  to  her  relief  they  took  her  up  again,  and  delivered 
her  safely  at  the  Congregational  Mission  compound,  though 
not  before  her  husband  and  the  missionaries  had  become 
thoroughly  alarmed  for  her  safety,  since  processions  of  Boxers 
with  long  knives  and  spears  had  been  passed  by  us  on  the  way. 

The  governor  of  the  city,  who  still  pretended  to  protect 
foreigners,  sent  a  guard  of  soldiers  each  night  to  the  mission 
compound,  who  were  supposed  to  defend  us  all  against  the 
Boxers  should  they  attack  us.  It  is  more  than  likely  however, 
that  some  of  these  soldiers  were  themselves  Boxers,  or  that  they 
would  have  run  as  fast  as  their  legs  could  carry  them  if  the 
Boxers  actually  appeared.  They  were  supposed  to  fire  their 
guns  at  nine  o'clock  each  evening,  to  let  us  know  that  they  were 
on  duty.  One  evening  no  guns  were  heard,  and  when  Mr. 
Pitkin  inquired  the  next  morning  why  the  salute  was  not  fired, 
the  captain  of  the  guard  told  him  that  they  had  no  powder. 
The  next  night,  after  the  same  omission,  he  was  informed  that 


238  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

they  had  no  wadding  and  so  could  not  fire  their  guns.  These 
were  evidently  their  excuses  to  let  him  know  that  they  did  not 
take  their  duties  seriously. 

The  day  of  our  departure  arrived,  and  very  early  in  the 
morning  we  took  the  train  back  to  Peking,  over  the  railway 
which  in  a  few  days  more  was  utterly  destroyed  by  the  Boxers, 
so  that  no  trains  could  go  or  come,  and  the  doom  of  the  mission- 
aries was  sealed.  At  that  early  hour,  a  few  Chinese  were  strol- 
ling about  the  platform,  giving  their  birds,  which  they  carried 
in  cages,  an  airing,  a  favorite  custom  of  these  bird-loving  folk. 
A  few  Chinese  Christians  and  missionaries  had  come  to  see  us 
off,  and  the  last  glimpse  we  had  was  of  the  stalwart  form  and 
white  hat  of  Pitkin  as  he  waved  us  adieu,  and  of  the  others 
who  were  soon  to  become  martyrs  of  their  faith. 

Shortly  after  that  we  sailed  from  Taku  on  a  small  Japanese 
steamer  commanded  by  a  diminutive  captain,  who  seemed 
greatly  to  enjoy  playing  rope  quoits  with  our  twelve-year-old 
son,  whose  stature  was  about  the  same  as  the  captain's.  How- 
ever, he  was  a  skilful  captain,  and,  through  the  fog,  steered  his 
craft  between  the  numerous  islands  which  dot  the  coast  of 
Korea,  stopped  for  a  few  hours  at  Chemulpo,  and  at  last  landed 
us  safely  at  Fusan. 


Chapter  XXII 


Year  1900 
ACROSS   SIBERIA    IN    FORTY-TWO    DAYS 

PICTURESQUE    KOREAN     MONASTERY LANDING    IN    RUSSIA 

THE  SIBERIAN  RAILWAY DANGERS  AND  DIFFICULTIES 

FOURTH-CLASS       CARS    LAKE    BAIKAL   BLAGOVYESH- 

CHENSK IRKUTZK MOSCOW  AT   LAST. 


S  I  have  intimated  in  the  previous  chapter  we 
were  in  serious  difficulties  as  to  how  we  might 
best  return  from  China  to  Europe  and 
America.  I  was  anxious  to  get  to  London  in 
time  for  the  World's  Christian  Endeavor 
L    Convention  of  1900,  which  was  to  open  about 


the  middle  of  July.  The  journey  by  water  would  be  a  long 
and  tedious  one.  We  had  to  give  up  our  plan  for  crossing  the 
desert  of  Gobi  from  Peking,  since  Dr.  Gamewell  could  not 
go,  and  the  caravan  could  not  be  formed.  At  last,  with  many 
misgivings,  we  decided  to  attempt  the  journey  across  Siberia 
from  Vladivostok  to  London,  a  journey  which  by  steam  power 
had  never  before  been  undertaken  by  any  one.  Some  said  it 
could  not  be  done.  Others,  who  were  more  optimistic,  said  it 
could  be  accomplished  in  twenty  days.  The  Russian  ambassa- 
dor to  China  said  he  thought  it  could  surely  be  accomplished  in 
twenty-eight  days,  and  kindly  gave  me  a  letter  of  introduction 
"  to  whom  it  might  concern."  So  we  decided  at  last  to  attempt 
this  new  route,  armed  also  with  a  letter  from  Mr.  Conger, 
our  American  minister. 

I  have  already  described  the  beginning  of  this  adventurous 
journey  as  far  as  Fusan.     Only  a  few  days  after  we  left  the 

239 


240  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

port  of  Peking,  its  forts  were  fired  upon  by  the  Boxers,  and 
the  beginning  of  the  end  of  China's  ancient  regime  had  come. 

At  Fusan  we  had  to  wait  several  days  for  a  steamer  to 
Vladivostok,  and  were  kindly  entertained  in  the  home  of  a 
well-known  Presbyterian  missionary,  Dr.  Irvin.  A  memorable 
trip  was  one  that  we  took  with  Dr.  Irvin  and  some  of  our 
other  friends  to  a  famous  old  Buddhist  monastery  in  the  green 
clad  hills  some  twenty  miles  from  the  port  of  Fusan.  There 
were  then  no  railroads  in  that  part  of  Korea  as  there  are  now, 
and  indeed  no  carriage  roads  of  any  kind,  only  bridle  paths, 
or  narrow  footways,  trodden  by  the  Jickey  men  with  immense 
packs  upon  their  backs.  Most  of  the  transportation  in  Korea 
was  then  done  by  what  children  would  call  pick-a-back,  though 
sometimes  donkeys,  ponies,  and  water  buffaloes  were  pressed 
into  service,  with  an  occasional  horse. 

The  people  of  Korea,  who  had  not  then  become  sophisticated 
by  the  Japanese,  greatly  interested  us.  White  was  the  univer- 
sal color  of  their  costumes  5  at  least,  this  was  the  color  the  first 
day  the  costume  was  worn,  a  color  that  for  working  people 
changed  its  complexion,  becoming  dingier  and  dingier  as  the 
days  went  on.  The  Korean  gentlemen  and  ladies,  however, 
wore  spotless  white,  sometimes  of  an  expensive  material. 
The  Japanese  edict  "  top-knot  come  down,"  had  not  then  been 
proclaimed,  and  all  the  men  wore  their  hair  twisted  up  into  a 
little  pug  on  top  of  their  heads  and  fastened  with  a  big  metal 
hair-pin,  while  over  the  top-knot  they  wore  a  horse-hair  hat 
something  like  the  steeple-crowned  headgear  of  our  early 
pilgrim  ancestors.  Some  of  these  hats  are  very  expensive  and 
cost  their  owners  as  much  as  thirty  dollars  apiece. 

We  made  our  way  on  donkeys,  the  ladies  in  chairs,  across  the 
broad  plain,  which  follows  the  seacoast,  and  soon  turned 
off  among  the  hills,  with  rice-fields  on  either  hand,  and  deli- 
cious-looking water  gurgling  on  every  side.  This  water,  on 
pain  of  death,  we  were  not  allowed  to  drink,  as  it  had  come 
through  the  rice  fields,  where  the  fertilizer  used  had  filled  it 


ACROSS    SIBERIA    IN    FORTY-TWO    DAYS  24 1 

with  innumerable  noxious  germs  of  typhoid  and  other  dread 
diseases. 

As  we  kept  getting  higher  the  scenery  at  every  kilometer 
became  more  strikingly  beautiful.  Great  oak  and  pine  trees 
lined  our  pathway.  Charming  waterfalls  dashed  down  the 
hills,  and  many  lovely  flowers  brightened  the  roadside. 

At  last  the  buildings  of  the  old  monastery  came  in  sight, 
and  we  were  heartily  welcomed  by  the  monks,  who  knew  and 
respected  our  missionary  doctor  for  his  gifts  of  healing,  which 
they  had  themselves  experienced.  The  monastery  was  a  ram- 
bling old  structure,  and  to  it  belonged  many  of  the  ricefields, 
which  had  been  a  large  source  of  wealth  for  genera- 
tions. Altogether,  it  was  one  of  the  most  picturesque,  inter- 
esting, and  unusual  places  that  I  have  visited  in  all  my  travels. 

Though  we  had  brought  provisions  with  us,  the  monks  in- 
sisted on  our  sharing  their  evening  meal,  which  consisted 
largely  of  rice  on  a  large  lettuce  leaf,  with  some  condiment 
like  soy,  and  a  relish  made  of  fried  bark  and  toasted  seaweed, 
which  tasted  far  better  than  it  sounds. 

They  also  taught  us  a  good  lesson  in  hospitality,  for  while 
we  were  all  eating,  a  company  of  Korean  pilgrims  arrived, 
who  were  taken  right  into  their  refectory,  and  seated  on  the 
floor  with  the  rest  of  us.  As  the  cooked  provisions  had  all 
been  served  to  monks  and  guests,  there  was  nothing  to  do  but 
to  take  a  collection  j  so  one  of  the  monks  passed  around  a 
platter  while  each  one  put  a  spoonful  of  rice  and  some  of  the 
condiments  from  his  plate  on  the  common  dish  from  which  the 
new-comers  were  to  be  served. 

This  grace,  of  hospitality,  was,  I  fear,  one  of  their  few 
virtues,  for  I  understand  that  they  live  a  lazy  and  useless  life. 
After  supper  they  took  down  their  gods  from  their  pedestals 
to  put  them  in  a  good  light,  so  that  Mrs.  Clark  might  take 
their  pictures,  while  they  themselves  were  not  averse  to  being 
immortalized  by  the  camera.  The  whole  surroundings  were 
most  unusual.     The  primitive  yet  ingenious  way  of  pounding 


242  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

their  rice  by  their  water  mills  was  most  interesting.  These 
worked  automatically,  and  brought  down,  about  once  a  minute, 
a  heavy  pestle  in  the  mortar  filled  with  rice,  day  and  night, 
and  day  after  day. 

When  night  came  the  monks  assigned  us  to  some  of  their 
cells  as  our  sleeping  apartments,  they  themselves  having  moved 
out  to  other  and  perhaps  less  comfortable  quarters.  For  a 
time  all  went  well,  and  we  fell  into  a  comfortable  slumber, 
but  were  awakened  after  a  little  by  a  sense  of  suffocation  and 
burning  heat  and  itching  as  well.  We  found  on  investigation, 
that  the  floor  on  which  we  were  lying  was  really  a  stove, 
heated  by  flues  underneath,  in  which  our  kind  hosts  had  built 
fires  in  order  that  we  might  not  suffer  from  the  night  chill. 
The  innumerable  living  creatures  which  naturally  inhabit  such 
places,  when  they  got  thoroughly  warmed  up,  went  about  their 
usual  business,  and  added  much  to  our  discomfort.  However 
we  were  able  to  ventilate  our  cells  by  opening  the  doors,  and 
succeeded  in  getting  some  needed  rest  before  a  new  day 
dawned  in  this  secluded  paradise  of  the  hills. 

We  were  soon  on  our  way  back  to  Fusan,  and  the  next  day 
found  a  Japanese  steamer  sailing  for  Vladivostok,  on  which  we 
took  passage,  making  only  one  stop  on  the  way,  and  that  at 
Gensan,  or  Wonsan,  the  Korean  name,  on  the  northern  coast  of 
Chosen,  as  Korea  is  now  called. 

The  fine  harbor  of  Vladivostok  was  reached  early  in  the 
morning,  and  in  a  sampan  with  all  our  baggage  we  were  con- 
veyed to  the  wharf,  expecting  to  find  an  eagle-eyed  corps 
of  custom-house  inspectors  waiting  for  us,  and  perhaps  an 
order  from  the  Imperial  Government  forbidding  us  to  land, 
for  we  had  heard  much  of  the  strictness  and  inhospitality  of 
the  Russian  Czarist  government  to  foreigners.  However,  no 
formidable  officials  awaited  our  landing,  and  I  strolled  up  and 
down  on  the  wharf  for  some  time,  trying  to  discover  an  in- 
spector who  would  examine  our  luggage,  and  prepared  for  all 
kinds  of  trouble  in  the  process. 


ACROSS    SIBERIA    IN    FORTY-TWO    DAYS  243 

A  few  years  later  on  trying  to  enter  Russia  from  the 
European  side  my  expectations  of  trouble  of  this  sort  were 
fully  realized,  but  in  Vladivostok  I  could  discover  no  inspector 
of  customs  of  any  sort,  and  after  waiting  a  sufficient  length  of 
time,  we  loaded  our  trunks  into  a  tarantass  and  ourselves  into  a 
droschky,  and  drove  to  the  best  hotel  in  town,  a  hotel  by  no 
means  too  good,  "  best  "  though  it  was. 

Vladivostok  was  then  a  raw  town  on  which  an  immense 
amount  of  money  was  being  spent  in  docks  and  fortifications 
and  improvements  of  all  sorts,  for  it  was  not  only  the  eastern 
terminus  of  the  great  Trans-Siberian  Railway,  but  the  capital  of 
the  vast  province  of  Primorskaia,  and  the  most  important 
Russian  seaport  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  It  is  a  hilly  town  with 
the  streets  at  that  time  in  a  rather  chaotic  condition.  The 
droschky  men  all  drove  with  one  or  two  horses  between  the 
shafts,  and  another  running  free  outside  the  shafts,  but  able 
to  pull  when  necessary.  The  drivers  are  all  Jehus,  and  race 
through  the  streets  at  a  furious  pace,  the  free  horse  cavorting 
and  prancing,  and  adding  much  style  to  the  outfit. 

My  first  call  was  upon  General  TchickachoflF,  the  Governor 
of  Primorskaia.  He  received  me  very  graciously,  and  espe- 
cially, when  he  had  read  the  letter  of  introduction  from  the 
Russian  Ambassador  to  China,  was  exceedingly  kind  and  pains- 
taking for  our  comfort.  He  at  once  engaged  sleeping-car 
accommodations  for  us  to  Khabarovsk,  five  hundred  miles 
away,  telegraphed  for  a  stateroom  on  the  first  boat  leaving 
Khabarovsk,  and  indeed  his  courteous  thoughtful ness  followed 
us  half  the  way  to  Moscow. 

I  had  always  thought  of  a  Cossack  as  a  sort  of  cowboy,  a 
rough  rider  of  the  Russian  Steppes,  with  no  undue  regard  for 
human  life,  from  whom  it  would  be  well  to  keep  away  as 
far  as  possible.  But  here  was  my  first  Cossack,  the  general 
and  governor,  whom  I  found  to  be  an  educated,  polished 
gentleman,  with  a  most  kindly  and  generous  heart,  and  my 
boyhood  ideas  of  Cossacks  changed  for  the  better. 


244  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

The  next  morning  we  started  from  the  railway  station, 
over  whose  portals  was  the  almost  terrifying  sign,  "  Peters- 
burg 9,375  versts."  A  verst  is  about  two  thirds  of  a  mile, 
and  one  can  easily  reckon  the  vast  distance  that  lay  between  us 
and  our  goal.  Moreover  it  was  a  distance  beset  with  unknown 
dangers  and  possibilities  of  disaster.  No  one  before  had  taken 
the  new  all-steam  route  across  Siberia.  Even  then  the  railroad 
was  not  within  i,8oo  miles  of  completion,  and  that  long 
stretch  had  to  be  made  on  the  Amur  River. 

There  was,  however,  in  June,  1900,  when  we  started,  a 
possibility  of  going  all  the  way  by  steamboat  or  railway  train 
and  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  world,  for  the  rail- 
road to  the  upper  waters  of  the  Amur  had  been  completed  that 
winter,  and  on  June  i,  for  the  first  time  that  season,  the  great 
river  was  free  of  ice,  and  the  first  boat  was  to  leave  Khabarovsk 
the  next  day. 

We  had  read  dubious  accounts  of  the  new  railway  in  the 
papers.  It  was  said  by  its  traducers  to  be  merely  two  streaks 
of  rust  across  Asia,  that  the  roadbed  was  in  horrible  condition, 
and  that  the  trestles  and  bridges  were  flimsy  and  insecure 
affairs.  This  was  an  exaggerated  story  but  nevertheless  par- 
tially true,  as  we  soon  found. 

Khabarovsk  was  then  another  raw  pioneer  town,  beautifully 
situated  on  a  high  bank  overlooking  the  mighty  river,  which 
was  here  some  three  miles  wide,  although  still  several  hun- 
dred miles  from  its  mouth. 

Through  a  cloud  of  dust,  which  prevented  us  from  see- 
ing the  beauties  of  Khavarovsk,  if  it  had  any,  we  were  driven 
furiously  to  the  wharf,  and  there,  to  our  surprise  and  delight, 
found  a  fine,  large  boat,  the  "  Baron  Korff,"  with  steam  up, 
waiting  to  take  us  for  the  first  stage  of  our  journey  on  the 
Amur.  It  was  well  that  Governor  Tchickachoff  had  wired  for 
accommodations  for  us,  for  scores  of  people  who  could  get  no 
chance  to  sail  had  long  been  waiting  for  the  boat.  It  seemed 
selfish  that  the  last  should  be  first,  but  feeling  the  great  im- 


ACROSS    SIBERIA    IN    FORTY-TWO    DAYS 


245 


portance  of  reaching  our  destination  as  soon  as  possible,  we 
accepted  what  the  gods  had  provided,  and  found  ourselves 
installed  in  a  large  and  comfortable  stateroom,  which  we 
occupied  for  more  than  a  week. 


A  Flash  of  Lightning 

On  the  Amur  River.    The  Manchurian  shore  is  seen  in  the  distance. 
From  a  photograph  by  Mrs.  F.  E.  Clark. 

The  Amur  is  a  lordly  river  indeed,  and  for  much  of  its 
course  it  flows  with  such  a  mighty  and  majestic,  yet  silent  sweep, 
that  it  gives  the  impression,  more  than  almost  any  other  river, 
of  resistless  power  and  might.  There  are  few  settlements  on 
its  banks,  and  what  there  are,  are  for  the  most  part  of  the 


246  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

most  primitive  kindj  log  huts  chinked  with  moss  and  mud 
being  the  prevailing  type  of  architecture. 

For  a  long  distance  Siberia  lies  on  one  side  of  the  river  and 
Mongolia  on  the  other.  Sometimes  the  river  winds  its  way 
through  beautiful  meadows,  which  in  June  are  bright  with 
flowers  of  various  kinds.  Lilies  of  the  valley,  with  the  same 
sweet  scent  with  which  we  are  familiar,  can  be  picked  by  the 
bushel.  Orchids  of  various  kinds  and  colors,  but  of  general 
shape  like  our  familiar  lady's  slipper,  hide  under  the  pine 
trees.  Sometimes  the  river  flows  through  great  forests,  though 
more  often  we  see  these  forests  of  birch  and  oak  anci  pine  at 
a  little  distance  j  often  looking  like  the  park  of  some  vast 
estate,  so  open  are  these  forests  and  free  from  underbrush. 
Huge  piles  of  wood  are  ^ound  at  every  landing,  and  usually 
two  or  three  times  a  day  our  steamer  stopped  to  wood  up, 
while  the  roustabouts  made  lively  work  of  piling  up  cords  of 
four  foot  logs  upon  the  lo.wer  deck  to  feed  the  ever-gaping 
maw  of  our  furnaces.  Thus  passed  eight  or  ten  pleasant, 
though  monotonous  days,  which  gave  us  ample  opportunity 
to  read  and  write  and  enjoy  the  ever-changing  scenery. 

About  eleven  o'clock  on  a  June  evening  our  boat  stopped 
at  Blagovyeshchensk,  and  we  were  told  that  we  could  go  no 
further  on  the  "  Baron  Korff,"  since  she  (or  he),  drew  too 
much  water  for  the  shallows  above.  It  was  still  light  in  that 
northern  latitude,  and  we  wandered  from  hotel  to  hotel  in 
this  considerable  city,  seeking  a  place  where  we  might  lay  our 
heads  for  the  night. 

A  very  bright  and  intelligent  young  lady,  a  correspondent 
of  the  New  York  papers,  in  whose  behalf  she  was  seeking 
unusual  adventures,  had  joined  herself  to  our  little  party, 
and  at  last  we  found  one  vacant  room  where  the  two  ladies  and 
the  small  boy  could  bestow  themselves.  But  what  should 
become  of  the  grown-up  male  member  of  the  party?  He  had 
about  made  up  his  mind  to  spend  the  night  on  the  curb  stone, 
when  a  Russian  officer,  a  perfect  stranger,  came  out  of  another 


ACROSS    SIBERIA    IN    FORTY-TWO    DAYS  247 

hotel  near  by,  and  invited  him  to  share  his  own  room  for  the 
night.  In  the  morning,  when  I  tried  to  pay  my  share  of  the 
bill,  he  absolutely  refused  to  let  me  do  it,  saying  that  I  was 
his  guest,  and  he  could  not  think  of  such  a  thing.  Was  there 
ever  a  more  perfect  example  of  genuine  hospitality,  —  to  take 
an  utter  stranger,  at  midnight,  into  one's  own  room! 

A  Siberian  bill,  in  those  days,  was  a  lengthy  document  for, 
as  many  people  carried  their  own  beds  and  bedding,  and  appara- 
tus for  their  ablutions,  every  sheet  and  blanket  and  pillow  case 
and  towel  furnished  by  the  hotel  was  a  separate  charge,  as  well 
as  the  milk  and  sugar  used  in  the  coffee,  the  butter  that  we 
spread  on  the  bread,  and  every  last  item  for  which  we  found 
any  use.  When  all  was  reckoned  up,  however,  the  sum  total 
was  not  extravagant,  however  long  the  bill. 

The  next  day  we  took  passage  on  a  Smaller  steamer,  and, 
when  we  reached  the  Shilka  River,  were  transferred  to  a  still 
smaller  boat,  or  barge,  towed  by  a  very  light-draught  tug.  So 
shallow  was  the  water,  for  the  season  was  an  unusually  dry  one, 
we  often  ran  aground,  and  frequently  it  would  take  hours  to 
get  us  off  the  sand  bars.  The  quartermaster  was  constantly 
casting  the  lead,  while  the  little  craft  was  in  motion,  and  sing- 
ing out  in  monotonous  Russian  the  depth  of  the  water  beneath 
our  keel.  Occasionally,  all  the  passengers  and  baggage  had  to 
be  transferred  for  a  time  to  another  boat  in  order  to  decrease 
our  draught. 

The  scenery  grows  more  picturesque  and  beautiful  as  the 
journey  up  the  Shilka  proceeds,  and  the  country  becomes  more 
mountainous.  In  one  place  the  river  cuts  through  a  solid 
bed  of  coal,  which  years  ago,  caught  fire,  and  for  aught  I 
know,  is  burning  still. 

Thus  days  and  days  passed,  the  monotony  being  relieved 
by  frequent  stops  at  the  great  wood-piles,  where  usually  some 
Siberian  woman  awaited  us  with  bottles  of  fresh  milk,  small 
loaves  of  bread,  pieces  of  fried  chicken,  or  roast  lamb,  with 
which  we  varied  the  monotony  of  our  steamer's  bill  of  fare. 


248  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Occasionally  we  would  stop  at  a  small  village  with  a  single 
street  of  log  houses,  a  general  variety  store,  and  a  big  Russian 
Orthodox  Church.  Sometimes,  while  the  boat  was  wooding  up, 
we  had  time  to  explore  the  village  to  make  sundry  little 
purchases,  and  perhaps  to  attend  a  service,  where  we  always 
found  the  priests  arrayed  in  most  gorgeous  vestments  of  cloth 
of  gold,  which  would  have  done  credit  to  a  metropolitan 
cathedral. 

At  one  place,  my  boy  and  I,  desiring  to  try  our  hands  at 
fishing,  saw  a  man  digging  in  the  field,  and  applied  to  him  for 
bait.  Whereupon,  divining  that  we  were  Americans,  he  began 
to  repeat  the  names  of  our  sovereign  States  in  the  same  order 
that  I  had  myself  learned  them  in  the  school  geography: 
"  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island,  Connecticut,"  etc.  I  found  that  he  knew  few  other 
English  words,  but  that  he  had  a  son  in  America  and  he  doubt- 
less beguiled  the  long  evenings  of  a  Siberian  winter  by  studying 
the  map  of  the  country  to  which  his  son  had  gone,  and  imagin- 
ing, perhaps,  something  of  the  wonders  of  the  New  World. 

After  twenty-two  long  days  and  nights  we  reached  Stretinsk 
at  the  head  of  navigation  of  the  Shilka,  the  longest  tributary 
of  the  mighty  Amur.  We  thought  that  we  had  had  sufficient 
tribulation  before  this,  but  we  found  when  we  left  Stretinsk 
that  if  we  had  tears  to  shed  it  was  time  to  shed  them  then, 
for  it  took  something  like  a  week  longer  by  rail  to  reach  the 
banks  of  Lake  Baikal,  though  it  was  only  a  thousand  miles 
distant. 

Troops  were  being  hurried  to  the  Chinese  border  to  have 
their  share  in  quelling  the  Boxer  uprising,  and  we  often  had  to 
wait  for  hours  for  the  arrival  and  passage  of  a  troop  train. 
Soon  after  leaving  Stretinsk  a  long  railway  bridge  burned  down 
just  as  we  approached  it,  which  caused  a  delay  of  many  hours 
while  all  scrambled  across  a  dry  river  bed  to  a  train  which  had 
been  brought  up  to  the  other  bank.  Up  to  this  point  the 
thoughtfulness  of  our  good  Cossack  angel  in  Vladivostok  had 


ACROSS    SIBERIA    IN    FORTY-TWO    DAYS 


249 


followed  us,  and  we  had  obtained  a  tolerably  comfortable  car, 
much  like  a  caboose  on  a  freight  train,  but  this  train  could  not 
get  across  the  river,  and  on  the  other  side  there  was  a  general 
rush  for  the  best  seats. 

The  best  seats  that  we  could  secure  were  hard  boards  in  a 
car  that  ,was  marked  on  the  outside,  "  For  Twelve  Horses  or 
Forty  Men,"  a  car  used  for  the  transportation  of  soldiers  or 


Our  Fifth-Class  Cars  on  the  Trans-Baikal  Train 
Prisoners  carrying  water. 

of  horses,  as  the  case  might  be.  Indeed  all  the  cars  on  this 
second  train  were  of  this  character,  and  there  ,were  fully  forty 
men,  women  and  children  in  the  car  which  fell  to  our  lot. 
This  part  of  the  railway  was  still  a  military  road  and  passengers 
were  not  desired,  but  taken  on  sufferance,  so  one  could  not 
complain. 

With  towels  and  rugs  we  managed  to  screen  off  a  little 
family  apartment,  and  got  what  rest  we  could  at  night  on  the 
boards  which  formed  the-  impromptu  seats.     It  was  a  trying 


250 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 


journey,  but  we  made  the  best  of  it,  and  ,were  glad  enough 
after  six  or  seven  days  to  reach  Lisovitchnia  on  the  eastern 
shore  £>f  Russia's  great  inland  lake. 

Our  fellow  travellers,  however,  were  most  kind  and  con- 
siderate, and  we  came  to  have  a  real  regard  for  the  Mujiks 
who  travelled  with  us,  even  though  cleanliness  was  not  their 
chief  characteristic.  Nothing  could  be  kinder  than  their  at- 
tempts to  reduce  the  discomforts  of  our  journey.    They  would 


Prison   liARct 

A  prison  barge  on  the  Amur  River  carrying  prisoners  to  the  Saghahen  Island 

before  the  Russo-Japanese  war. 

help  us  get  our  baggage  down  from  the  shelf  near  the  roof 
of  the  car.  They  would  also  offer  to  divide  with  us  their 
black  bread  and  curds  and  whey,  though  we  were  not  often 
obliged  to  accept  their  hospitality,  since  at  the  railway  stations 
there  was  always  a  small  buffet,  and  outside  the  station  a 
line  of  native  women  behind  a  long  table,  selling  the  products 
of  the  country. 

Eggs  and  milk  and  bread  were  almost  always  available. 


ACROSS    SIBERIA    IN    FORTY-TWO    DAYS 


251 


Then,  too,  at  every  station  there  was  a  steaming  samovar, 
filled  with  boiling  water,  from  which  we  all  made  tea  as  often 
as  we  wished.  No  product  of  the  cup  that  cheers  but  does 
not  inebriate  is  finer  than  that  which  one  gets  in  Russia,  for 
it  is  "  Caravan  Tea,"  which  is  brought  across  the  desert,  and 


A  Prison  Car  on  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway 
Before  the  war  nearly  every  ordinary  train  included  one  or  more  prison  cars. 
Prisoners  and  criminals  were  often  allowed  to  take  their  wives  and  children  into 
exile.    Note  the  woman  and  baby  at  the  window. 

has  never  known  salt  water.  No  nation  is  more  fond  of  the 
tea-cup  than  the  Russian,  so  that  every  railway  station  might 
be  called  a  life-saving  tea  station. 

All  the  way  across   Siberia  a  prison  car  was   attached  to 
our  train  and  a  prison  barge  had  been  towed  up  the  long 


252  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Stretches  of  the  Amur  by  our  steamer.  We  were  told  that  the 
prisoners  behind  the  bars  were  not  political  prisoners  but 
criminals,  though  they  looked  no  more  vicious  than  most  of 
our  fellow  passengers.  We  could  not  speak  the  language 
and  could  have  little  communication  with  them,  but  their 
prison  life  did  not  seem  terribly  irksome  so  far  as  we  could 
see,  since  wives  and  children  often  accompanied  them. 

Occasionally  we  passed  long  trains  of  emigrants,  going  to 
some  spot  in  Siberia  where  the  government  had  given  them  a 
grant  of  land,  for  the  Czar  was  doing  his  best  to  people  the 
waste  places  of  that  vast  province.  It  was  pathetic  to  see  the 
gratitude  of  these  poor  emigrants  for  any  little  favor  we  could 
give.  A  kopeck  tossed  to  a  child,  a  half  a  loaf  of  bread  to 
a  family  party,  or  an  old  garment  which  had  outlived  its  use- 
fulness so  far  as  we  were  concerned,  seemed  to  call  forth  an 
unending  stream  of  blessings.  I  was  much  embarrassed  to 
have  one  poor  woman  to  whom  I  had  handed  some  little  gift 
through  the  window,  come  out  of  the  car,  and  down  the  steps, 
kneel  at  my  feet,  and  kiss  my  travel-stained  shoes.  Such  a 
gift,  in  most  countries,  would  have  called  forth  scarcely  a 
"  thank  you." 

A  lady  friend  in  Vladivostok  had  given  us  a  vocabulary  of 
the  most  important  words  that  we  would  be  likely  to  need, 
some  two  hundred  of  them,  spelling  them  out  in  the  English 
equivalents  for  thq  Russian  letters,  and  also  giving  us  the 
sounds  of  the  Russian  characters.  Before  the  journey  was 
over  we  were  able  to  spell  out  the  signs  as  well  as  the  head- 
lines in  the  Russian  papers,  in  spite  of  the  silent  letters,  which 
seem  to  have  no  use  in  the  language  except  to  confuse  and  ex- 
asperate the  foreigner.  This  little  vocabulary  was  a  great  boon 
to  us,  and  enabled  us  before  the  journey  was  over  to  ask  for 
almost  anything  we  desired. 

At  last  the  hard  week  in  the  military  car  was  over,  as  well 
as  our  long  stops  of  two  hours  or  more  at  each  little  station. 
But  a  longer  wait  still  was  before  us,  at  Lisovitchnia,  the  village 


ACROSS    SIBERIA    IN    FORTY-TWO    DAYS 


253 


on  the  shores  of  Lake  Baika],  while  waiting  for  the  great  ice- 
breaker which  ,was  to  carry  us  to  the  other  shore.  There 
seemed  to  be  no  earthly  reason  for  the  delay,  while  we  sat 
upon  our  trunks  in  the  dreary  railway  station  for  nearly  a 
whole  day  waiting  for  the  boat  that  apparently  would  never 
come.  We  learned  afterwards  that  a  Minister  of  Justice  of  the 
empire  (minister  of  injustice,  we  preferred  to  call  hini)  was 


Our  Fellow  Passengers  on  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway 

Waiting  for  the  boat  at  Lisovitchnia  on  the  borders  of  Lake  Baikal. 

From  photograph  by  Mrs.  Clark. 

delaying  the  ice-breaker  for  his  own  convenience,  and  to  the 
inconvenience  of  two  or  three  hundred  passengers.  My  son 
and  I  beguiled  a  part  of  the  tedious  day  with  short  rambles 
and  with  a  bath  in  the  icy  waters  of  the  great  lake. 

Baikal  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  famous  fresh-,water 
lakes  in  the  world.  It  is  about  the  size  of  Lake  Erie,  and  is 
noted  for  short  but  terrific  storms  that  sweep  down  upon  it 


254  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

from  the  surrounding  hills.  "  A  man  never  prays  till  he  takes 
passage  on  Lake  Baikal  "  is  one  of  the  proverbs  of  the  vicinage. 
All  winter  long  the  tremendous  ice-breaker  forces  its  way 
through  the  ever-thickening  ice,  keeping  a  passage  open  from 
shore  to  shore.  Toward  the  last  of  June  the  ice  had  gone  out 
of  the  lake,  and  its  great  iron  beak  was  no  longer  of  so  much 
use.  Just  at  nightfall  the  ice-breaker  reached  the  shore  where 
we  were  waiting,  and  the  whole  long  train  made  its  way  into 
the  bowels  of  the  big  ship,  while  our  little  family  of  three  was 
fortunate  enough  to  secure  a  comfortable  stateroom  and  enjoy 
the  first  good  night's  sleep  which  we  had  had  for  nearly  three 
weeks,  since  we  left  the  "  Baron  Korff." 

A  comparatively  short  railway  ride  on  the  other  side  of  the 
lake  brought  us  to  Irkutsk,  the  thriving  metropolis  of  central 
Siberia.  Our  company  of  through  foreign  travellers  on  the 
journey  from  the  Pacific  Coast  consisted  of  the  four  Americans 
already  introduced,  a  Dane,  a  Swiss  consul,  a  German  baron,  a 
Scottish  merchant  and  his  wife,  a  couple  of  Frenchmen,  and, 
most  congenial  of  all,  Mr.  John  Jordan,  the  consul-general 
and  chief  diplomatic  agent  of  Great  Britain  in  Korea.  His 
faithful  service,  soon  after  this,  gained  him  the  title  of  Sir 
John  Jordan,  and  the  high  diplomatic  post  of  Ambassador  to 
China,  where  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  him  some  years 
later  in  the  marvellous  old  Chinese  temple  where  the  British 
Embassy  to  China  is  located. 

When  we  reached  Irkutsk  there  was  a  great  rush  for  the 
weeklv  through  train  for  St.  Petersburg  ( which  had  not  then 
changed  its  name  to  Petrograd).  There  were  but  a  limited 
number  of  first-class  compartments  and  naturally  each  of  our 
fellow  passengers,  as  well  as  ourselves,  was  eager  to  get  one 
of  them.  We  were  handicapped,  however,  as  some  were  not, 
by  a  lack  of  knowledge  of  the  language,  and  when  it  came  our 
turn  to  secure  sleeping-berths,  we  found  that  only  second- 
class  compartments  were  left.  However,  we  made  the  best  of 
it,  and  consoled  ourselves  with  the  thought  that  a  second-class 


ACROSS    SIBERIA    IN    FORTY-TWO    DAYS  255 

compartment  cost  only  half  as  much  as  the  first-class.  So  we 
secured  a  large  compartment  with  four  berths  for  less  than  the 
price  that  our  travelling  companions  in  the  first-class  paid  for 
two  berths.  When  we  reached  the  train,  we  found,  to  our 
surprise,  that  the  second-class  compartments  were  in  the  same 
car  as  the  first  class,  and  precisely  the  same  in  every  particular 
except  in  the  label  stuck  upon  the  window.  So  we  proved  the 
saying  true,  "  he  laughs  best  who  laughs  last,"  for  we  certainly 
had  the  best  of  it. 

This  last  lap  of  our  journey  lasted  eight  days  and  was  com- 
fortable and  uneventful,  and  the  fares  were  only  about  a 
cent  a  mile.  A  good  dining-car  was  on  the  train,  and  we  were 
landed  in  Moscow  on  schedule  time.  Here  we  spent  but  a 
day,  seeing  as  much  of  the  city  as  we  could,  of  its  curious 
churches,  its  wonderful  Kremlin,  and  its  devout  and  super- 
stitious people,  for  we  had  to  hurry  on  to  St.  Petersburg,  and 
then  by  the  fastest  possible  train  to  London. 

We  had  been  forty-two  days  upon  the  road  from  Vladi- 
vostok, instead  of  twenty,  or  twenty-eight,  as  we  were  told 
would  be  the  case.  The  World's  Christian  Endeavor  Conven- 
tion began  the  very  next  day  after  our  arrival  in  London, 
instead  of  leaving  us  two  weeks  for  rest  and  recuperation  as  we 
had  expected.  Nevertheless  we  had  come  through  these  trying 
experiences  in  good  condition.  The  convention  was  all  that 
we  had  expected,  with  some  fifty  thousand  delegates  and 
friends  in  attendance.  For  the  first  time  in  its  history,  many  of 
the  gray  old  buildings  of  London  were  decorated  for  a  religious 
gathering,  and  we  were  greeted  by  hundreds  of  Endeavorers 
who  had  come  from  America  as  well  as  from  other  parts  of  the 
world  to  attend  this  great  gathering. 

A  happy  summer  in  Switzerland  followed,  since  our  older 
children  had  come  across  the  ocean  to  join  us. 

The  autumn  found  us  in  our  own  home,  while  I  attempted 
to  catch  up  with  the  arrears  of  work  and  writing  which  awaited 
me  at  Endeavor  headquarters  in  Boston. 


256  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

As  I  review  this  journey  and  its  scenes,  more  than  twenty 
years  afterwards,  I  am  tempted  to  moralize  on  the  events 
that  have  occurred  since  that  time:  the  seemingly  impregnable 
monarchy  overthrown,  the  weak  Czar  and  his  superstitious 
wife,  the  little  Czarevitch  and  all  his  sisters  murdered  in  cold 
blood  in  the  Siberia  to  which  the  Czar  had  sent  so  many  inno- 
cent subjects j  a  Bolshevist  government  set  up  and  now  ap- 
parently tottering  to  its  fallj  millions  of  people  starving  to 
death  j  a  vast  and  once  prosperous  country  racked  and  wrecked, 
and  seemingly  on  the  verge  of  eternal  ruin!  All  these  things 
have  been  brought  to  pass  in  half  a  decade!  Who  is  bold 
enough  to  predict  Russia's  future? 


Chapter  XXIII 

Years   1901-1902 

THE   CHARM   OF  SCANDINAVIA  IN   WINTER 

AN    INTERVIEW  WITH    KING   OSCAR PRINCE    BERNADOTTE 


A     LOVE     MATCH 
WOES. 


LOCKED     IN     THE     ICE FINLAND  S 


I 


II. I.  ii-ii  II.   n„ii   ii-Li  n^r^rr 


I 


Pm 


"^ 


T? 


HE  most  notable  event  of  the  year  1901  from 
the  Christian  Endeavor  standpoint  was  the 
twentieth  anniversary  of  the  movement, 
especially  celebrated  on  Feburary  2  in  Port- 
land, Me.  This  meeting  brought  together 
many  leading  ministers  and  laymen  from  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  country,  and  emphasized  the  growth  of  the 
movement  in  two  decades.  By  this  time  it  had  spread  to  every 
continent  and  to  most  of  the  nations  of  the  world,  and  though 
the  opposition  of  some  denominationalists  still  continued,  the 
marvellous  Providential  growth  of  the  society  during  the  first 
twenty  years  gave  boundless  hope  and  courage  for  the  future. 
By  the  beginning  of  1902  I  felt  that  I  should  again  answer 
calls  from  across  the  seas,  and  on  January  4,  with  my  wife 
and  three  of  our  children,  I  set  sail  for  Naples,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  leaving  my  family  in  Italy  while  I  should  devote  my 
time  largely  to  meetings  in  the  northern  countries  of  Europe. 
This  plan  was  carried  out  and  mid-winter  found  me  in  the 
Scandinavian  countries,  attending  such  meetings  as  I  had  been 
invited  to  in  Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden,  and  Finland. 

It  may  seem  that  mid-winter  was  an  unfortunate  time  to 
choose  for  such  peregrinations,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  no  coun- 
tries  are    more    comfortable    for   winter    travel    than    these 


257 


258  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

northern  lands.  While  tourists  shiver  in  the  cold  marble 
palaces  of  Italy,  which  now  serve  as  hotels  or  -pensions,  the 
traveller  in  Scandinavia  finds  comfortable,  steam-heated  rail- 
way cars,  hotels  warm  in  every  room  and  corridor,  heated  by 
great,  porcelain,  wood-burning  stoves,  while  the  cold,  though 
often  intense,,  is  of  the  dry,  crisp  variety,  which  makes  far 
less  drain  upon  one's  vitality  than  the  moisture-laden  cold  of 
more  southern  latitudes,  even  where  the  temperature  is  half 
a  hundred  degrees  higher.  I  remember  writing  to  my  wife, 
whose  room  in  a  Florence  -pension  was  warmed,  when  heated  at 
all,  by  a  smoky  little  stove  not  much  larger  than  a  peck 
measure,  that  if  she  wished  to  be  really  comfortable  she  should 
have  come  with  me  to  the  Arctic  Circle  and  beyond. 

"  Northern  Travel  "  always  exercised  a  strange  fascination 
for  me  since  reading,  as  a  boy.  Bayard  Taylor's  book  with  that 
title.  His  journeys  in  Sweden  and  Norway,  his  descriptions 
of  the  winter  landscape  in  these  cold  countries,  and  his  ride 
in  a  reindeer-sledge  I  deemed  more  fascinating  than  the  ad- 
ventures of  Robinson  Crusoe.  The  exploits  of  Dr.  Kane,  and 
the  ill-fated  Sir  John  Franklin  expedition  had  also  fired  my 
imagination,  and  I  found  when  visiting  these  Arctic  regions 
that  their  winter  glories  had  not  been  overdrawn. 

A  peculiar  characteristic  of  Sweden  in  winter  is  the  windless, 
frosty  weather,  lasting  for  days  at  a  time,  when  every  branch 
and  twig  on  every  tree,  every  fence  rail  and  telegraph  wire, 
is  loaded  inches  deep  with  a  feathery  rime  which  sparkles 
in  the  sun  like  the  jewels  in  a  king's  crown,  while  all  the 
fields  are  covered  with  "  acres  of  diamonds." 

The  glories  of  the  sunset  and  the  sunrise  too  are  incom- 
parable in  these  northern  latitudes,  where  sunrise  glows  until 
noon-day  and  fades  again  into  the  marvellous  sunset  lights,  all 
within  the  space  of  two  or  three  hours. 

On  this  journey  I  was  a  little  too  late  in  the  year  to  find 
a  night  of  twenty-four  hours  without  a  glimpse  of  the  sun, 
but  on  a  subsequent  trip  I  got  far  into  the  Land  of  the  Mid-day 


THE    CHARM    OF    SCANDINAVIA    IN    WINTER  259 

Moon  early  in  January,  a  memorable  experience  which  I 
may  describe  in  a  later  chapter.  My  five  journeys  to  Scandina- 
via have  all  been  made  in  the  winter  time  or  early  spring, 
a  season  more  favorable  for  the  meetings  which  I  went  to 
attend,  than  for  sight-seeing.  But  I  do  not  regret  the  fact,  for, 
though  Scandinavia  is  supremely  beautiful  in  the  summer  time, 
with  its  green  fields,  placid  lakes,  and  rushing  rivers,  winter 
is  after  all  the  characteristic  season,  as  it  is  in  Canada,  our  own 
"  Lady  of  the  Snows." 

The  charm  of  Scandinavia  lies  not  altogether  in  its  beautiful 
winter  and  summer  landscapes,  its  tonicky  atmosphere,  and  the 
warmth  and  good  cheer  of  its  homes  and  hotels  j  the  people 
themselves  are  worthy  of  the  beautiful  land  which  they  inhabit. 
Brought  up  in  the  kindly  school  of  a  gracious  democracy, 
they  are  genial  and  friendly  beyond  the  generality  of  man- 
kind, and  being  somewhat  removed  from  the  great  arteries  of 
travel,  their  hospitality  is  more  generous  and  unstinted.  The 
Swedes  are  a  particularly  suave  and  polite  people,  more  nearly 
resembling  the  French  in  their  manners  than  any  other  con- 
tinental nation.  The  Norwegians,  somewhat  more  blufF  and 
brusque,  perhaps,  are  none  the  less  genuinely  hospitable,  and 
their  sterling  honesty  has  not  yet  been  tainted  in  spite  of  the 
great  influx  of  summer  visitors,  which  has  spoiled  the  primitive 
simplicity  and  genuine  kindliness  of  so  many  other  peoples. 

Our  American  minister  in  Sweden  at  that  time  was  Hon. 
William  Widgery  Thomas  from  Portland,  Me.,  one  of  the 
most  genial  and  jovial  of  men,  who  was  a  favorite  with  all, 
from  King  Oscar  to  the  humblest  servant  of  the  legation.  He 
had  conferred  a  real  benefit  upon  his  native  State  by  sending  a 
large  colony  of  industrious  Swedes  to  Aroostook  County,  where 
they  had  greatly  prospered.  Some  of  them  are  now  among  the 
"  Potato  Kings  "  of  the  county.  His  father  and  mother  I 
had  known  in  Portland  where  they  were  much  esteemed  both 
in  social  and  religious  circles.  Mrs.  Thomas  had  been  very 
anxious  that  William  Widgery  should  become  a  parson,  but 


26o  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

his  tastes  evidently  did  not  lie  in  that  direction.  When  he  ,was 
sent  as  our  representative  to  Sweden  one  of  the  bon  mots 
at  the  farewell  banquet  which  was  given  him  in  Portland,  was 
to  the  effect  that  now  "  Mr.  Thomas's  saintly  mother  would 
have  her  heart's  wish  at  last  fulfilled,  for  William  Widgery 
had  become  a  minister." 

While  I  was  in  Stockholm  he  kindly  offered  to  arrange  an 
audience  with  King  Oscar  for  me,  and  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
a  twenty-minute  talk  with  that  democratic  monarch  in  a  beauti- 
ful little  cabinet  in  the  enormous  palace  of  Stockholm.  The 
palace  outside  is  as  bare  and  to  the  ordinary  eye  as  homely  as 
most  king's  palaces,  though  it  is  said  by  architects  to  be  quite 
in  a  class  by  itself  so  far  as  the  beauty  of  its  lines  is  concerned. 
It  is  a  vast  building,  capable  of  entertaining  the  King's  fellow 
monarchs  with  all  their  suites,  even  when  they  number  hun- 
dreds of  individuals.  King  Oscar  had  the  reputation  of  being 
the  handsomest  of  European  rulers,  as  well  as  one  of  the 
wisest  and  most  gracious.  Considerably  over  six  feet  tall, 
with  an  erect  military  bearing,  and  a  benignant  face,  he  at 
once  put  his  visitors  at  their  ease  and  chatted  as  familiarly 
as  though  he  had  not  worn  the  royal  purple. 

Our  conversation  naturally  turned  on  the  Scandinavians  in 
America,  and  while  he  was  gratified  that  they  had  given  such 
good  account  of  themselves,  and  were  considered  as  among 
the  most  valuable  elements  of  our  population,  he  regretted  that 
America  had  proved  such  a  powerful  magnet,  especially  to  his 
Norwegian  subjects.  Not  long  after  this  the  Norwegians  con- 
cluded to  set  up  a  kingdom  of  their  own,  and  to  separate 
themselves  from  Sweden,  with  King  Haakon  as  their  ruler. 
It  was  a  bloodless  revolution,  but  a  sore  blow  to  King  Oscar. 
It  was  said  that  the  old  monarch  never  recovered  from  it, 
though  even  in  Norway  he  was  to  the  end  respected  and  loved 
by  most. 

An  interesting  fact  about  this  royal  family  is  its  descent 
from    one    of    Napoleon's    generals.    Marshal    Bernadotte, 


n 

X 
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> 
a 
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H 
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CO 

> 


t-' 


THE    CHARM    OF    SCANDINAVIA    IN    WINTER  263 

whom,  on  the  death  of  Charles  XII,  the  Swedes  elected  as 
their  king.  It  proved  to  be  a  wise  choice,  though  the  Hohen- 
zollerns  and  the  Hapsburgs  were  inclined  to  look  down  upon 
the  royalties  of  Sweden  as  -parvenues. 

In  speaking  of  religious  conditions  in  Sweden  the  king  told 
me  that  he  left  such  matters  largely  to  his  second  son.  Prince 
Oscar  Bernadotte,  on  whom  I  afterwards  called  and  found 
exceedingly  interested  and  sympathetic  in  all  things  relating  to 
the  spiritual  conditions  of  the  country.  Indeed  he  was  one  of 
the  most  religious  men  whom  I  ever  met,  being  especially 
devoted  to  the  work  of  the  Y.M.C.A.  in  Stockholm,  but 
willing  to  speak  for  the  cause  of  his  Master  wherever  he  was 
invited  and  his  other  duties  allowed.  Though  the  state  church 
of  Sweden  is  Lutheran,  Prince  Bernadotte  seemed  just  as  much 
interested  in  other  churches,  especially  in  the  Floragatan  Inde- 
pendent Church,  which  he  occasionally  attended. 

I  have  been  told  that  he  sometimes  has  preached  to  the 
washerwomen,  as  they  were  bending  over  their  tubs  in  a 
public  washhouse,  and  has  even  been  to  the  far  north  to  carry 
the  Gospel  to  the  nomadic  Lapps  in  their  frozen  wilds.  I  have 
enjoyed  three  or  four  calls  at  different  times  at  his  modest 
home,  —  that  is,  modest  for  a  royal  prince,  —  and  have  been 
struck  with  the  simplicity  and  beauty  of  the  family  life. 

His  union  with  the  princess  was  a  pure  love  match,  since  she 
did  not  belong  to  a  royal  though  to  a  noble  family.  In  taking 
Ebba  Monk  he  at  the  same  time  gave  up  the  possibility  of 
ever  being  king  of  Sweden.  As  I  met  the  princess  and  their 
charming  family  I  felt  that  he  had  made  no  mistake  in  re- 
signing the  possibility  of  a  throne  for  such  domestic  happiness. 
The  dominance  of  his  religious  life  is  indicated  by  his  corre- 
spondence, as  well  as  by  his  words  and  acts,  for  more  than 
one  letter  that  I  have  received  has  been  signed  "  Yours  in  the 
Master's  service,"  or  words  to  that  effect.  This  deep  religious 
character  he  perhaps  inherited  from  his  mother,  who  was  known 
far  and  wide  as  a  peculiarly  devout  woman,  delighting  espe- 


264  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

daily  in  the  books  and  sermons  of  F.  B.  Meyer,  and  preachers 
of  a  peculiarly  spiritual  tone. 

Crossing  the  Baltic  to  Finland,  in  mid-winter,  was  an 
experience  to  be  remembered.  For  some  miles  from  the  city 
of  Stockholm  the  ice  on  the  landward  side  served  for  wharves 
for  loading  and  unloading  merchandise. 

It  was  a  picturesque  sight,  under  the  flaring  torches,  with 
stevedores  on  skis  drawing  great  sleds,  hurrying  back  and  forth. 
Soon  our  ship  was  out  in  the  Baltic,  and  then  our  troubles 
began,  for  the  cold  became  more  intense,  and  the  strong  wind 
from  the  north  drove  the  floating  ice  down  upon  our  little 
ship  with  tremendous  force. 

Through  a  few  inches  of  ice  we  could  cut  our  way  as  a 
knife  goes  through  a  cream  cheese,  but,  when  the  ice  became  a 
foot  thick,  it  was  a  decidedly  different  proposition,  and  we  made 
but  little  headway.  At  length  the  ice  closed  in  around  us  fully 
two  feet  thick,  and  further  progress  seemed  hopeless.  Our 
captain  did  not  give  up  in  despair,  however,  but  sent  out  his 
crew,  who,  with  axes  and  saws,  attempted  to  cut  a  passage  for 
the  ship.  It  proved  a  hopeless  undertaking,  for  the  ice  closed 
in  more  rapidly  than  it  could  be  cut  away.  There  was  nothing 
to  do  but  to  send  a  message  to  the  Finnish  shore  for  help, 
and  endure  our  imprisonment  with  what  patience  we  could, 
waiting  for  a  change  of  wind,  or  for  an  ice-breaker  from  the 
further  shore. 

It  was  a  truly  arctic  scene  that  surrounded  us,  as  for  thirty- 
six  hours  we  lay  there,  fast  embedded  in  the  ice.  I  made  one 
or  two  short  excursions  from  the  steamer,  and  saw  the  great, 
jagged  masses  heaved  up  by  the  impact  of  the  ice  from  the 
north,  and  could  imagine  what  the  heroes  of  my  boyhood, 
Franklin  and  Kane,  and  other  Arctic  explorers  had  experienced. 
Here  and  there  seals  were  playing  upon  the  ice,  and  it  was 
amusing  to  see  the  mother  seals  poke  the  little  ones  into  the 
air  holes,  out  of  harm's  way,  when  they  saw  their  supposed 
enemy,  man,  approaching.    We  were  in  no  danger  except  from 


THE    CHARM    OF    SCANDINAVIA    IN  .  WINTER  265 

possible  starvation  if  held  in  the  ice  too  long,  and  I  thoroughly 
enjoyed  the  experience. 

At  last  our  cry  for  help  was  heard,  and  an  ice-breaker  put 
off  from  the  Finnish  shore  to  help  usj  but  she  was  not  power- 
ful enough,  and  soon  she,  too,  was  stuck  in  the  ice,  within 


*S%a,4. 


-4^; 


Pi^- 


The  Ice-Breaker  Opening  a  Path  for  Our  Steamer 

plain  view  of  the  "  Wellamo."  After  thirty-six  hours,  another 
ice-breaker  came  to  our  rescue.  She  was  the  most  powerful 
vessel  on  the  coast,  and  succeeded  in  breaking  a  channel 
through  which  the  "  Wellamo  "  and  our  would-be  rescuer 
following  closely  in  our  wake,  were  able  to  reach  the  icy 
wharves  of  Hango. 


Chapter  XXIV 
Year  1902 

FROM    THE    BALKANS    TO    ICELAND 

A    MISSIONARY    CAPTURED    BY    BRIGANDS MANY    RACES    AND 

LANGUAGES ISOLATED     ICELAND THE     ANCIENT     AL- 
THING  THINGVALLA FISHING  ON  THE  SOG, 

FTER  the  visit  to  Scandinavia  related  in  the 
last  chapter  I  returned  to  my  family  in 
Florence,  and  after  a  few  days  of  rest 
Started  with  Mrs.  Clark  for  Bohemia,  Bul- 
garia, Macedonia,  and  Greece,  leaving  three 
of  our  children  in  Italy.  One  or  two  inci- 
dents of  this  journey  stand  out  in  my  memory,  though 
later  visits  to  these  countries  have  somewhat  dimmed  the  per- 
spective. 

This  was  the  year  in  which  great  excitement  prevailed 
throughout  the  United  States  because  of  the  capture  by  bri- 
gands of  Miss  Ellen  Stone,  an  eminent  American  missionary, 
and  Mrs.  Tsilka,  her  travelling  companion.  Shortly  before  I 
left  Boston,  the  news  of  her  capture  reached  America,  and 
strenuous  efforts  were  made  to  raise  the  sixty  thousand  dollars 
which  the  brigands  demanded. 

Being  then  upon  the  Prudential  Committee  of  the  American 
Board,  of  which  organization  Miss  Stone  was  a  missionary,  I 
had,  with  many  others,  sought  to  arouse  the  churches  to  the 
necessity  of  speedy  action,  that  her  life  might  not  be  sacri- 
ficed. 

The  capture  and  release  of  Miss  Stone  and  Mrs.  Tsilka, 
the  birth  of  the  Tsilka  baby  in  the  wild  mountain  wilderness 

266 


FROM    THE    BALKANS    TO    ICELAND  267 

on  the  border  between  Bulgaria  and  Macedonia,  the  dexterous 
way  in  which  the  money  was  at  last  made  over  to  the  wily 
brigands,  and  the  captives  released,  form  one  of  the  most 
thrilling  and  romantic  stories  in  missionary  history,  —  a  story 
which  might  well  have  resulted  in  a  triple  tragedy.  For  three 
months,  if  I  remember  rightly,  they  were  in  captivity,  and  it 
so  happened  that  we  reached  Salonica  very  soon  after  the  re- 
lease of  the  prisoners.     Miss  Stone  had  already  departed  for 


Mrs.  Tsilka  and  her  Baby  Elenka  ' 


Who  was  born  in  the  wilds  of  Bulgaria  when  her 
mother  was  imprisoned  by  brigands. 

America,  but  we  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  Mrs.  Tsilka,  a 
charming  Albanian  lady,  and  the  beautiful  baby  which  was 
born  under  such  harrowing  circumstances,  in  a  robber's  hut, 
the  exact  location  of  which  they  will  never  know,  since  the 
little  party  was  transported  by  night,  and  with  the  utmost 
secrecy,  from  one  trysting-place  of  the  bandits  to  another. 
A  few  months  after  our  return  to  America  Mrs.  Tsilka  and 


268  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

little  Ellenche  were  our  guests  in  Auburndale,  where  they 
excited  great  interest  among  all  our  neighbors.  A  famous 
English  clergyman,  who  was  visiting  us  at  the  time,  humor- 
ously declared  that  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  he  was  quite 
thrown  in  the  shade  by  a  mere  baby. 

Another  interesting  visit  on  this  journey  ,was  to  Samokov 
among  the  mountains  of  Bulgaria,  a  station  of  the  American 
Board,  long  an  educational  centre  for  all  that  region.  The 
religious  influence  brought  to  bear  upon  the  students  greatly 
impressed  me,  for  a  genuine  revival  was  in  progress,  and  scores 
of  young  men  and  maidens  were  professing  their  devotion  to 
the  Saviour.  The  mighty  influence  which  faithful  teachers  can 
exert  for  good  upon  their  scholars,  when  they  are  themselves 
men  and  women  of  deep  religious  conviction  was  never  more 
forcibly  illustrated,  for  scarcely  a  boy  or  girl  escaped  its  up- 
lifting influence,  and  I  was  glad  to  have  a  small  part  in  the 
joyous  meetings. 

Another  interesting  city  which  we  visited  was  Monastir, 
then  in  Macedonia  and  under  Turkish  rule.  It  has  since 
changed  hands  three  or  four  times,  for  it  fell  to  the  Serbians 
after  the  first  Balkan  war,  was  taken  by  the  Bulgarians  in 
191 5,  and  again  came  under  Serbian  rule,  when,  later  in  the 
World  War,  the  Allies  from  their  base  at  Salonica  captured 
the  much  beleaguered  city. 

It  was  a  centre  of  military  operations  in  1902,  and  we  saw 
hundreds  of  Turkish  cavalry  manoeuvering  on  the  plains  that 
surround  the  city.  Albanian  brigands  were  no  strangers  to  the 
harassed  town,  and  often  swept  down  upon  it  from  the  moun- 
tains, but,  during  all  these  thrice  troublous  times,  American 
missionaries  stuck  to  their  post.  We  were  glad  to  see  some- 
thing of  their  noble  work 5  their  church,  their  schools,  their 
four  Christian  Endeavor  societies,  and  their  philanthropic 
efforts  for  the  many  nationalities,  Turks,  Greeks,  Serbians, 
Bulgarians,  and  Albanians  of  this  cosmopolitan  city. 

One  of  the  missionaries  whom  we  then  saw.  Miss  Mary 


FROM  THE  BALKANS  TO  ICELAND  269 

Matthews,  was  not  daunted  even  by  the  horrors  of  the  .world 
at  war,  but  through  those  dreadful  days  of  siege  and'  counter 
siege,  when  bombs  dropped  into  the  mission  compound.^  and 
even  upon  the  mission  houses,  maintained  her  spirit  of  calmness 
and  good  humour,  rejoicing  that  they  had  a  "  nice  little  dining- 
room  in  the  basement,"  where  there  was  small  danger  of  the 
Bulgarian  bombs,  as  they  would  have  to  crash  through  two 
stories  before  reaching  her  school-girls  and  herself. 

In  all  these  cities  which  we  visited,  it  is  needless  to  say 
that  meetings  were  held,  and  we  realized  the  confusion  of 
tongues  wrought  at  the  Tower  of  Babel,  which  obliged  me  in 
the  course  of  a  few  months  to  rely  upon  the  services  of  nearly 
twenty  interpreters  in  as  many  different  languages  in  Europe 
alone. 

Returning  from  these  journeys  in  southeastern  Europe,  we 
found  our  three  children,  who  had  come  w^ith  us  from  America, 
happily  established  in  Venice,  .where  after  a  short  visit,  I  left 
them  with  their  mother  while  I  went  to  attend  some  important 
meetings  in  Switzerland,  Germany,  and  Great  Britain. 

It  would  be  wearisome  to  describe  all  these  "  journeyings 
oft,"  but  one  of  them,  which  took  me  to  Iceland  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1902,  was  somewhat  out  of  the  ordinary.  My  oldest 
son,  who,  the  year  before,  had  graduated  from  Dartmouth 
College,  being  as  anxious  to  join  the  family  as  we  .were  to 
have  him,  willingly!  accepted  my  proposition,  that  if  he  would 
work  his  way  over  on  a  cattle  steamer  I  would  pay  his  way 
back  in  the  first  cabin.      '  .  '. 

It  was  then  a  popular  thing  for  college  boys,  theological 
students,  and  even  young  ministers  to  ship  as  cattle-men  on 
the  trans- Atlantic  liners j  receiving  little  more  than  their 
passage  back  and  forth  for  ten  days  of  hard  and  disagreeable 
work.  It  was  considered  quite  a  lark,  and  hundreds  of  Ameri- 
can college  boys  who  otherwise  could  not  have  afforded  the 
expense,  got  more  than  a  glimpse  of  Europe  by  thus  enduring 
hardships  for  a  few  days.     I  considered  it  a  well-worth-while 


270  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

experience,  though  some  of  my  European  friends  have  told 
me  that  in  their  country  it  would  be  considered  below  the  dig- 
nity of  a  young  man  of  good  family  to  engage  in  such  menial 
employment.  I  am  glad  that  it  never  seemed  to  strike  Ameri- 
cans in  that  w^ay. 

Meeting  my  son,  Eugene,  in  the  north  of  England  we  spent 
a  fe,w  days  in  Cumberland,  the  loveliest  of  all  the  Lake  re- 
gions, and  soon  sailed  from  Leith,  the  port  of  Edinburgh,  on 
the  steamer  "Laura,"  bound  for  Copenhagen  and  Reikjavik. 
It  was  a  rough  passage  and  the  little  steamer  of  only  a  thousand 
tons  burden  was  heaved  about  like  a  cork  on  the  great  swells  of 
those  northern  seas.  A  dense  fog  covered  the  sea  much  of  the 
time,  and  our  captain,  in  trying  to  find  the  port  in  the  Faroe 
Islands  at  which  he  wished  to  call,  poked  the  nose  of  the 
"  Laura  "  into  more  than  one  bay,  which  proved  to  be  a  wrong 
lead.  At  length,  without  mishap,  however,  he  found  the  right 
harbor,  and  we  lay  for  a  day  in  the  storm-begirt  port  of 
Thorshavn.  An  ancient  and  fishy  smell  pervaded  the  whole 
atmosphere.  It  was  a  quaint,  primeval  little  town  which  re- 
minded me  of  what  our  own  Marblehead  must  have  been  in 
the  early  days  before  fashion  invaded  its  streets. 

Off  again  on  the  bounding  billows  (bounding  is  an  adjective 
that  peculiarly  applies  to  these  uneasy  northern  seas),  we  came, 
after  three  or  four  days  more,  to  the  harbor  of  Iceland's 
capital  and  only  considerable  city,  Reikjavik. 

Just  before  midnight  we  dropped  anchor,  and  though  the 
sun  had  set,  it  was  still  almost  as  light  as  noonday.  Proof  of 
advanced  modernity  was  not  wanting,  for,  scarcely  had  the 
anchor-chain  run  out,  before  a  reporter  scrambled  aboard,  and, 
standing  at  attention  before  me,  in  his  best  English,  plumped 
out  the  question:  "  Sir,  how  do  you  like  Iceland:  "  I  felt  at 
home  at  once  in  the  face  of  this  indication  of  American-like 
enterprise. 

Reikjavik  has  about  6,C00  inhabitants,  and,  compared  with 
any  other  place  on  the  island,  is  a  metropolitan  city  indeed, 


STREET  IN  THORSHAVEN,   FAROE   ISLANDS 


FROM    THE    BALKANS    TO    ICELAND  273 

for  the  farmhouses  are  some  ten  miles  apart  on  the  average 
and  only  a  few  other  places  could  even  be  dignified  by  the 
term  hamlet. 

But  the  people  are  most  interesting,  strongly  individualistic, 
democratic  in  their  manners,  acknowledging  only  the  slightest 
tie  that  binds  them  to  the  mother  country,  Denmark.  They 
are  proud,  as  they  have  a  right  to  be,  of  their  long  history, 
their  bold  navigators  and  discoverers,  their  literature  and  their 
language,  which  has  preserved  to  the  world  a  very  early  type 
of  Norse  letters. 

Naturally,  as  this  is  the  only  considerable  place  in  the  island, 
there  was  little  opportunity  for  an  extensive  Christian  En- 
deavor campaign,  but  I  had  an  interesting  meeting  and  a  large 
and  attentive  audience,  in  which  were  many  members  of  the 
Althing,  or  legislature,  then  sitting  in  Reikjavik.  A  most 
excellent  interpreter,  Miss  Johansdotter,  supplied  all  my 
deficiencies  in  the  Icelandic.  She  is  a  charming  lady,  well 
educated,  and  had  travelled  extensively  in  Europe  and  America, 
where  she  was  known  as  prominent  in  the  circles  of  temperance 
women. 

I  also  had  a  very  pleasant  call  on  the  Bishop  of  Iceland, 
and  had  a  booklet  on  Christian  Endeavor  translated  into  the 
Icelandic  tongue  which  had  a  considerable  circulation. 

Then  as  the  "  Laura  "  was  to  remain  a  week  in  port  before 
returning  to  Denmark,  my  son  and  I  determined  to  try  our 
luck  in  one  of  the  famous  trout  streams  of  Iceland  to  which 
anglers  resort  from  far  and  wide.  On  our  way  to  the  Sog, 
which  lies  some  forty  miles  from  Reikjavik,  we  spent  a  night 
in  Thingvalla,  by  far  the  most  interesting  spot  in  Iceland. 
Here  on  the  green  turf,  under  the  open  sky,  for  hundreds  of 
years,  the  Althing,  or  legislature  of  Iceland,  met,  year  after 
year.  Here  nearly  a  thousand  years  ago  Christianity  was  first 
proclaimed,  here  criminals  were  tried,  and  when  found  guilty, 
were  promptly  thrown  over  a  cliff  into  a  deep  ravine  which  is 
still  shown. 


274  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

As  many  as  five  thousand  people  attended  the  sessions  of  the 
Althing,  in  the  old  days,  either  as  legislators  or  spectators, 
and  it  was  probably  the  most  democratic  assembly  of  law- 
givers that  ever  convened,  since  the  voice  of  the  people,  so 
many  of  whom  were  on  the  spot,  could  easily  make  itself 
heard. 

The  only  carriage  road  in  Iceland  runs  from  Reikjavik  to 
Thingvalla,  and  a  small  tourist  hotel,  almost  the  only  one 
in  Iceland,  makes  the  visitor  comfortable.  Twenty  miles 
from  this  historic  spot  lies  the  short  but  swift  river  Sog, 
and  thither  we  had  to  travel  on  the  backs  of  hard-bitted  little 
Iceland  ponies.  Across  seemingly  endless  wastes  of  volcanic 
cinder  we  made  our  way,  around  the  base  of  extinct  volcanoes 
which  in  past  ages  have  devastated  the  land,  seeing  only  one  or 
two  farmhouses,  in  sheltered  spots,  during  all  the  journey. 

At  last  we  came  to  the  farmhouse  which  was  our  destina- 
tion on  the  banks  of  the  Sog.  The  house  was  a  very  modest 
structure,  banked  up  with  sods  half  ,way  to  the  eaves,  a  re- 
minder of  the  terribly  long  and  stormy  winters.  Around  the 
house  were  a  few  acres  of  grass  land  which  a  husky  girl  was 
mowing.  The  spare  room  which  was  assigned  to  us  was  clean 
and  comfortable,  but  the  rest  of  the  house  seemed  dark  and 
dismal.  A  very  small  kerosene  stove,  and  a  smoky  fireplace 
in  which  some  small  twigs  were  smoldering,  seemed  to  afford 
the  only  opportunity  for  cooking  and  heating. 

Though  Iceland  used  to  be  well  wooded,  it  is  said  that  only 
one  tree  now  exists  and  that  in  the  north  of  the  island.  Some 
slender  birches,  little  larger  than  a  lead  pencil,  creep  along 
the  ground,  but  never  dare  to  lift  their  heads  to  the  cold 
blasts.  In  some  parts  of  the  island  there  is  abundant  peat, 
and  some  coal  is  brought  from  Scotland.  It  is  a  mystery  to  me 
why  80,000  people  should  choose  to  live  on  this  barren,  wind- 
swept outpost  of  the  north  seas,  when  the  fertile,  prairies  of  the 
United  States  and  Canada  are  open  to  them,  as  settlers.  How- 
ever the  ties  of  home  and  kindred  are  compelling  everywhere, 


FROM    THE    BALKANS    TO    ICELAND 


'75 


and,  be  it  ever  so  dreary,  there  is  no  place  like  home.  Some 
ten  thousand  or  more  Icelanders  however,  have  already  settled 
in  the  Canadian  northwest. 

The  trout-fishing  in  the  Sog  was  superb.     Indeed  the  great 


Dr.  Clark  and  His  Son  Fishing  for  Trout  in  Iceland 
Veiled  to  protect  them  from  mosquitoes. 

iridescent  beauties  were  caught  rather  too  easily  for  the  highest 
style  of  sport.  We  very  soon  had  all  we  could  eat,  and  were 
enabled  to  stock  up  the  larder  of  our  hosts.     These  fish  are 


276  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

the  Staple  food  of  the  farmers  in  summer  and  winter,  and  even 
the  ponies,  when  hay  gets  scarce,  as  it  often  does,  do  not  object 
to  frozen  trout  as  an  article  of  diet. 


;^ 


A    Bit    of    Iceland    Scenery 


FROM    THE    BALKANS    TO    ICELAND  277 

As  there  is  no  night  in  that  latitude  in  July  the  trout  would 
bite  as  .well  at  midnight  as  at  noon,  and  an  English  sports- 
man who  shared  the  farmhouse  with  us  caught  his  last  trout 
for  the  day  shortly  before  the  clock  struck  twelve,  midnight. 

The  only  serious  drawback  to  the  enjoyment  of  fishing  was 
the  persistent  attention  of  the  innumerable  midges  and  mos- 
quitoes which  compelled  us  to  wear  gloves  and  mosquito- 
netting  veils  over  our  faces.  Before  many  hours  were  gone 
we  had  had  our  fill  of  this  too-easy  fishing,  and  the  next  day 
we  made  our  ,way  back  to  Reikjavik,  forty  miles  on  our  back- 
breaking  ponies,  and  in  due  time  found  ourselves  again  on  the 
staunch  little  "  Laura,"  bound  for  Scotland.  We  later  made 
our  way  to  Switzerland  where  we  had  left  the  rest  of  the 
family. 

Soon  after  this  we  sailed  for  America,  having  completed 
a  long,  zigzag  journey,  or  indeed  several  of  them,  which  had 
taken  us  through  nearly  a  score  of  countries,  from  Salonica 
to  Reikjavik,  and  from  Dublin  to  Helsingfors,  and  had  en- 
abled me,  I  hope,  to  do  something  for  the  Christian  Endeavor 
cause  during  six  months  in  England,  Ireland,  Scotland,  Spain, 
Portugal,  and  Italy,  in  France,  Germany,  Austria-Hungary, 
Bulgaria,  Turkey,  Greece,  Norway,  Sweden,  Denmark,  Fin- 
land, Switzerland,  and  Iceland, 


Chapter  XXV 
Years   1903— 1904 

NEW    ZEALAND,    THE    TOURISTS'    PARADISE 

DEFINITE  GOALS   FOR   ENDEAVORERS OFF   FOR   NEW   ZEALAND 

GEYSER    WONDERS A    BOILING    LAKE A    TERRIBLE 

EXPLOSION ENDEAVOR    MEETINGS    IN     LEADING    CITIES. 

HE  latter  part  of  1902  and  most  of  1903 
were  spent  in  America.  These  were  busy 
months  with  numberless  conventions  to  at- 
tend in  the  United  States  and  Canada,  but 
their  story  belongs  rather  to  the  history  of 
the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  than  to 
my  personal  reminiscences,  if  I  would  keep  this  volume  within 
bounds.  One  or  two  events,  however,  seem  to  find  appropri- 
ate place  in  these  pages. 

Among  the  conventions  which  I  attended  in  the  fall  of 
1902  was  the  Ohio  State  convention  in  Zanesville.  At  this 
convention  it  occurred  to  me  that  the  time  had  come  for  a 
definite  and  specific  effort  for  increase  in  the  Christian  En- 
deavor movement.  It  had  now  passed  its  twenty-first  year. 
"  Coming-of-age  "  conventions  were  being  celebrated  all  over 
the  country,  and  there  was  some  danger  that  the  young  people 
might  rest  content  with  past  achievments.  At  this  convention, 
therefore,  I  proposed  that  the  Ohio  Endeavorers  should 
strive  to  add  ten  per  cent  to  the  number  of  their  societies. 
The  idea  was  taken  up  with  enthusiasm,  and  at  the  next  Inter- 
national Convention  I  proposed  that  we  make  it  nation-wide. 
As  a  result  of  this  effort  nearly  seven  thousand  new  societies 
were  added  to  the  ranks  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

278 


NEW    ZEALAND,    THE    TOURISTS*    PARADISE  279 

The  value  of  the  idea  lay  in  its  definiteness  in  suggesting  a 
specific  goal  which  should  appeal  to  ardent  young  people. 
Since  then  I  have  carried  out  this  idea  to  a  still  larger  extent, 
feeling  that  it  was  my  duty  at  each  national  convention  to 
suggest  some  practical  measures  appropriate  to  the  special 
needs  of  the  movement  and  the  times.  These  ideas  have  been 
taken  up  with  wonderful  enthusiasm  by  the  young  men  and 
women,  and  have  been  widely  endorsed  by  pastors  and  de- 
nominational authorities  with  great  cordiality. 

A  "Betterment  Campaign"  in  1905  followed  the  effort 
for  a  gain  of  ten  per  cent  in  1903.  In  later  years  an  "  Increase 
Campaign  "  resulted  in  a  gain  of  ten  thousand  new  societies 
in  two  years.  An  "  Efiiciency  Campaign  "  followed  this,  from 
which  came  a  greatly  increased  development  along  many  lines 
of  Christian  Endeavor  work,  while  the  "  Millions  Campaign," 
which  called  for  a  million  new  members,  a  million  converts 
to  the  churches,  a  million  new  dollars  for  missions,  etc.,  was 
successful  in  most  important  particulars,  —  the  million  new 
members  being  more  than  reached.  A  "  Standards  Campaign  " 
followed  this,  which  proved  to  be  an  efiicient  method  of  bring- 
ing a  multitude  of  unions  and  societies  up  to  a  high  standard  of 
service  and  efficiency.  The  "  Loyalty  Campaign,"  putting 
great  stress  upon  devotion  to  church  and  denominational 
interests,  in  19 19  and  1920  was  equally  fruitful.  The  "  Four- 
square Campaign  "  of  1 921-1922,  re-stating  and  re-enforcing 
the  many-sided  mission  of  Christian  Endeavor  for  people  of 
all  ages,  and  for  all  needs  of  the  young,  which,  as  I  write, 
is  in  full  swing,  promises  to  do  more  for  the  cause  than  any 
of  its  predecessors. 

In  1903  the  International  Christian  Endeavor  convention 
was  held  in  Denver,  Col.,  and  a  providential  escape  from 
what  might  have  been  a  very  serious  calamity  is  worthy  of 
notice.  The  great  tent  in  which  the  chief  meetings  were  held 
was  pitched  on  an  open  square  where  there  was  little  depth 
of  earth  for  the  tent-pins.     It  was  a  hot  July  day,  and  the 


280  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

sides  of  the  enormous  canvas  auditorium,  which  seated  ten 
thousand  people,  were  lifted  to  admit  the  air. 

Though  the  ushers  had  been  carefully  instructed,  and  were 
prompt  in  lowering  the  sides  when  the  wind  threatened,  a 
sudden  small  hurricane  surprised  them  and,  getting  under  the 
canvas,  lifted  it  bodily  from  the  earth,  since  the  tent-pins  in 
the  shallow  ground  were  unable  to  hold  it.  Then  it  settled 
down  on  the  heads  of  the  8,000  auditors,  who  were  listening 
to  the  address  of  a  British  delegate.  It  seemed  at  first  as 
though  a  terrible  loss  of  life  was  inevitable,  but  the  canvas 
settled  down  so  slowly  that  the  people  under  it  were  able  to 
dodge  the  many  great  tent  poles,  and  the  heavy  electric  arc 
lamps,  which  happily  had  not  yet  been  lighted,  and,  cutting 
their  way  through  the  enveloping  canvas,  all  soon  found  them- 
selves on  the  outside,  where  they  gathered  together  and  sang 
with  a  sense  of  gratitude  which  is  not  always  felt, 

"  Praise  God  from  whom  all  blessings  flow." 

No  one  was  seriously  hurt,  and  though  the  great  tent  was 
destroyed  past  repair,  temporary  headquarters  were  found 
for   the   convention,   which    was   hardly   interrupted   by    the 

accident. 

On  Christmas  day  of  1903,  with  my  daughter  Maude  Willis- 
ton  Clark,  I  started  on  my  second  journey  to  the  Antipodes. 
It  was  hard  to  leave  the  family  Christmas  festivities  for  this 
long  journey,  but  time  and  tide  are  imperative,  and  a  week 
later  we  sailed  from  San  Francisco  on  the  good  steamer 
"  Sierra,"  a  great  improvement  in  size  and  comfort  over  the 
"  Mariposa,"  on  which,  with  my  wife  and  son  Eugene,  I  had 
made  the  same  journey  eleven  years  before. 

Beautiful,  hospitable  Honolulu  detained  us  for  one  day, 
and  the  charming  tropical  harbor  of  Pago  Pago  gave  us  a 
glimpse  of  this  important  coaling  station  that  Uncle  Sam 
has  established  in  the  mid-Pacific,  and  also  of  some  of  our 
Samoan  fellow-citizens.     Pago  Pago  furnishes  a  perfect  sped- 


NEW    ZEALAND,    THE    TOURISTS*    PARADISE  28 1 

men  of  a  tropical  island.  The  intensely  green  and  exceedingly 
lush  vegetation  clothes  the  hillsides  to  the  very  top.  Brilliant 
birds  add  a  touch  of  vivid  color  to  the  landscape,  and  the  blue 
sky  and  intense  sunlight  bring  out  the  lights  and  shadows 
with  unusual  sharpness,  while  the  brown  inhabitants  in  their 
wattle  huts  add  a  touch  of  human  interest  to  the  scene. 

A  few  hours,  however,  were  all  that  were  allowed  to  this 
Paradise  of  the  mid-seas,  and  a  few  days  later  we  steamed 
into  the  harbor  of  Auckland,  and  began  a  long  and  interesting 
series  of  Endeavor  meetings  which  took  us  to  all  the  large 
towns  of  New  Zealand  5  Auckland,  Wellington,  Christchurch, 
Dunedin,  and  Invercargill,  as  well  as  to  a  good  many  smaller 
places.  The  New  Zealanders  surely  lived  up  to  their  well- 
established  reputation  for  hospitality.  The  meetings  which  I 
cannot  attempt  to  describe  in  detail,  were  all  that  could  be 
desired  in  numbers  and  enthusiasm. 

I  must  not  forget  to  tell  of  an  excursion  that  our  friends 
provided  for  us  through  the  Geyser  regions  of  the  North 
Island.  Most  of  it  was  over  excellent  roads,  in  old-fashioned 
coaches  drawn  by  four  horses,  and  our  journey  took  us  from 
one  natural  wonder  to  another  in  quick  succession.  Even  the 
glories  of  our  own  Yellowstone  Park  pale  before  these  greater 
wonders. 

Here  are  geysers  almost  innumerable.  Some  playing  like 
artificial  fountains  every  twenty  minutes  or  half  hour,  and 
keeping  to  their  appointed  minute  as  though  regulated  by  a 
stop  watch.  Others  send  up  huge  columns  of  water,  mud,  and 
stones  like  the  great  geyser  of  Waimangu,  which,  if  I  re- 
member rightly,  explodes  every  thirty-six  hours.  This  is 
more  like  a  volcano  than  an  ordinary  geyser,  for  huge  stones 
and  oceans  of  mud  are  flung  up  hundreds  of  feet  into  the  air, 
while  the  steam,  which  rises  five  miles'  towards  the  zenith, 
after  one  of  the  great  upheavals,  can  be  seen  for  scores  of 
miles  around. 

A  few  years  before  our  visit  the  whole  top  of  the  moun- 


282  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

tain  had  blown  off,  covering  the  country  for  miles  about  with 
debris  many  feet  in  depth.  The  country  is  very  scantily  in- 
habited, and  so  but  few  lives  were  lost,  but  some  houses 
were  buried  ninety  feet  deep  by  the  volcanic  ash. 

Since  our  visit  another  tremendous  explosion  has  occurred, 
burying  the  little  hotel,  or  "  accommodation  house,"  where 
we  stayed,  near  the  edge  of  the  geyser,  and  spreading  desola- 
tion still  further  around  this  vent  hole  of  Hades. 

Unfortunately  we  arrived  at  the  edge  of  the  crater  a  few 
minutes  too  late  for  the  great  diurnal  explosion,  but  we  saw 
many  eruptions  which  in  any  other  geyser  would  be  considered 
by  no  means  insignificant. 

All  of  the  phenomena  in  this  region,  however,  are  not  of 
this  terrifying  order,  for  there  were  many  little  lakes,  or  ponds, 
most  beautifully  colored,  some  of  an  emerald  green,  some  red 
as  blood,  and  some  that  look  like  a  great  vat  of  whitewash. 
Purling  streams  go  rippling  over  stones  like  a  Vermont  brook, 
but  beware  that  you  do  not  dabble  in  this  brook,  for  the  water 
is  boiling  hot.  Little  geysers  abound  that  present  many 
idiosyncracies  in  the  time  of  their  "  shots,"  in  the  color  of 
their  water,  and  the  shape  of  their  fountains. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  experiences  was  a  boat-ride 
over  the  hot  lake,  Rotomahana.  On  the  side  where  we  em- 
barked the  water  was  comparatively  cool,  but  as  the  Maori 
oarsman  carried  us  towards  the  farther  shore  the  water  grew 
hotter  and  hotter  until  it  boiled  around  us,  and  thumped  on 
the  bottom  of  our  boat.  We  found  ourselves  rowing  through 
a  veritable  witches'  caldron  toward  an  abrupt  hill  on  the 
farther  shore  from  which  wicked-looking  spurts  of  steam 
issued  from  a  hundred  vents.  This  is  the  lake  where  once 
were  the  remarkably  beautiful  "  crystal  terraces,"  of  pink 
and  white,  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world,  which  were  de- 
stroyed in  the  great  eruption  of  Waimangu. 

One  especially  pleasant  memory  of  this  thermal  region  will 
long  remain   with  me.      We  had  been  riding  all  day  since 


LYELL  BRIDGE,  UPPER  BULLER  RIVER,  NEW  ZEALAND 


NEW    ZEALAND,    THE    TOURISTS*    PARADISE  285 

early  dawn,  over  rough  roads.  Night  overtook  us  before  we 
reached  the  hotel  which  was  to  be  our  abiding  place  in  the 
Weiraki  Valley.  We  were  cold  and  stiff  from  the  long  jour- 
ney in  a  cramped  position.  The  proprietor  of  the  hotel,  wisely 
suspecting  my  .weariness,  at  once  took  his  lantern,  and  guiding 
me  through  his  flower  garden,  led  me  to  the  edge  of  a  natural 
swimming-pool  where  the  water  was  just  over  blood  heat. 
Six  feet  away  was  another  pool  that  felt  as  cold  as  ice,  and  by 


liiMMiii 


Mangapapa  Fails,  New  Zealand 


jumping  from  one  pool  to  the  other  I  had  all  the  benefit  of 
the  hot  and  cold  douche,  on  which  the  hydrotherapist  sets  so 
much  store.  It  was  certainly  a  most  delightful  preparation  for 
the  bountiful  supper  and  glorious  night's  sleep  that  awaited  me. 
If  New  Zealand  were  only  more  accessible  to  the  great 
centres  of  population  it  would  become,  even  more  than  Swit- 
zerland, the  playground  of  the  world,  for  here  we  find  not 
only  such  natural  wonders  as  I  have  described,  but  unsurpassed 
fishing  to  tempt  the  angler,  and,  in  the  South  Island,  mighty 


286  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Alps  which  rival  any  in  Europe,  and  deep,  placid  fjords  as 
fine  as  anything  that  Norway  can  boast. 

The  people,  too,  are  most  interesting,  because  of  their  bold 
adventure  in  a  moderate  socialism,  and  as  political  pioneers 
along  many  lines.  They  have  good  reason  to  be  satisfied  with 
their  lovely  and  fertile  islands,  whose  abundant  rains  never 
fail,  and  whose  fertile  soil  could  easily  support  ten  times  the 
million  people  who  now  call  New  Zealand  their  home. 

The  Maoris,  or  native  New  Zealanders,  are  among  the  most 
interesting  of  all  aboriginal  tribes.  Though  closely  related  to 
the  Hawaiians  and  Samoans,  they  are  in  some  ways  superior  to 
their  cousins  in  the  other  islands.  Their  totem  posts,  or  the 
images  that  answer  the  same  purpose,  their  assembly  houses^ 
and  their  great  canoes,  show  much. artistic  as  well  as  mechanical 
skill.  Some  Maoris  are  well  educated  and  a  number  of  them 
have  been  elected  as  representatives  to  the  New  Zealand 
parliament. 

Their  curious  method  of  salutation  affords  a  stranger  much 
amusement,  for  the  Maoris  of  to-day,  despite  their  advance 
in  civilization,  stick  to  the  custom  of  their  ancestors,  and  rub 
noses,  instead  of  bowing  or  shaking  hands  when  they  meet  a 
friend.  On  a  little  steamer  on  one  of  the  lakes  I  was  much 
amused  to  see  a  greeting  between  two  of  our  feminine  fellow 
passengers,  one  of  whom  had  a  proboscis  of  ordinary  size, 
while  in  the  other  that  facial  ornament  was  entirely  wanting, 
and  only  a  depression  showed  where  the  nose  should  have  been. 
However  the  ceremony  was  not  omitted,  and  the  two  ladies 
did  their  utmost  to  fulfil  the  requirements  of  politeness. 

I  am  tempted  to  dwell  much  longer  on  the  beauties,  glories, 
and  thousand  charms  of  New  Zealand,  but  with  these  very 
inadequate  descriptions  must  hasten  on  to  her  greater  neighbor, 
Australia. 


Chapter  XXVI 
Year   1904 

AUSTRALIA   AND    SOUTH   AFRICA   REVISITED 

THE    VASTNESS    OF    AUSTRALIA A    FRUIT-GROWERS^    PARADISE 

GRAPES  OF   ESHCOL THE   "  GOLDEN   MILE  "   OF  WEST 


ACROSS  THE  "  ROARING    FORTIES  " 


AUSTRALIA ACROSS  THE  "  ROARING    FORTIES  " BOERS 

AND     BRITISH    TOGETHER    IN     CHRISTIAN     ENDEAVOR A 

REMARKABLE   CAPTAIN. 


OST  people  in  northern  lands  think  of  New 
Zealand  and  Australia  as  close  neighbors, 
with  only  a  strait  between  which  a  night's 
run  would  cover.  But  when  one  reaches  New 
Zealand  he  finds  that  the  journey  from  there 
to  Australia,  in  time  at  least,  is  almost  as  long 
as  from  America  to  Europe  by  the  fastest  steamers,  for  by  the 
ordinary  passenger  ship  it  is  a  five  days  journey  from  Well- 
ington or  Auckland  to  Sydney  or  Melbourne,  and  a  stormy, 
uncomfortable  voyage  it  often  is. 

We  did  not  altogether  escape  the  lashings  of  Neptune,  but 
reached  Sydney  in  good  condition,  ready  for  a  very  strenuous 
but  interesting  series  of  meetings  in  the  states  of  Queensland, 
New  South  Wales,  Victoria,  Tasmania,  South  Australia,  and 
West  Australia,  covering  all  the  large  cities  like  Brisbane, 
Sydney,  Melbourne,  Ballarat,  Bendigo,  Hobart,  Launceston, 
Adelaide,  Albany,  Perth,  Coolgardie,  and  some  smaller  places. 
Nowhere  does  one  find  a  more  generous  and  kindly  people 
than  in  this  vast  island  continent.  Nowhere  are  there  larger 
Christian  Endeavor  audiences  in  proportion  to  the  population. 
Nowhere  is  there  more  unbounded  hospitality,  but  I   have 

287 


288  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

described  many  of  these  characteristics  in  a  former  chapter, 
and  need  not  repeat  the  experiences  of  the  second  journey  at 
any  length. 

The  meetings  were  even  larger  than  those  I  attended  on 
my  first  visit,  since  the  Endeavor  movement  during  these 
intervening  years  had  expanded  in  Australia,  as  well  as  in  the 
rest  of  the  world.  The  largest  halls  in  the  different  cities 
were  requisitioned,  and  very  large  audiences  assembled. 

Compared  with  our  own  country  the  population  of  Austra- 
lia grows  but  slowly,  but  it  has  the  advantage  (if  it  is  an 
advantage),  of  being  more  homogeneous  and  almost  entirely 
of  British  descent. 

Its  comparatively  slow  growth  is  accounted  for  by  several 
causes.  The  vast  interior  deserts  of  Australia  which  occupy 
so  large  a  section  of  its  surface  will  probably  never  be  in- 
habited. A  wide  fringe  of  fertile  soil  along  the  shores  is 
the  only  part  of  the  great  island  that  can  support  a  numerous 
population,  and  though  Australia  is  larger  than  the  United 
States,  excluding  Alaska  and  our  outlying  territories,  but  a 
fraction  of  it  can  probably  ever  be  the  abode  of  man. 

Nevertheless  there  are  still  vast  tracts,  especially  in  Queens- 
land and  West  Australia,  that  invite  the  hardy  settler  3  tracts 
which  doubtless  would  have  been  taken  up  long  ago,  were 
Australia  nearer  the  centres  of  European  population,  and  had 
not  the  labor  leaders  who  so  largely  control  the  destinies  of 
Australia  been  so  much  opposed  to  what  might  be  called 
promiscuous  immigration.  The  laws  against  the  coming  of 
Orientals  have  been  stricter  than  our  own,  and  even  the  Kan- 
akas or  South  Sea  Islanders,  who  alone  can  work  in  the  sugar- 
cane fields  of  tropical  Australia,  have  been  deported,  though 
some  of  them  had  made  their  homes  there  for  many  years. 

Australia,  like  America,  too,  has  suffered  from  the  conges- 
tion of  its  population  in  the  great  cities  Sydney  and  Melbourne, 
which,  combined,  contain  more  than  a  quarter  part  of  the 
people  of  this  vast  territory. 


AUSTRALIA    AND    SOUTH    AFRICA    REVISITED 


289 


The  Australian  people  themselves  complain  that  far  too 
much  attention  is  given  to  sport  j  horse  races  and  football  and 
cricket-matches  seeming  to  occupy  the  constant  attention  of  a 
large  section  of  the  population.  The  balmy  climate,  contribut- 
ing to  the  year-round  out-door  possibilities  of  most  parts  of 
Australia,  makes  such  dissipation  unusually  tempting. 

Nevertheless  in  spite  of  certain  drawbacks  I  am  inclined  to 
think  that  these  great  islands  of  the  South  Pacific,  New  Zea- 


In  the  Fern  Forests  of  Queensland,  Australia 

land,  and  Australia,  are,  all  things  considered,  among  the  hap- 
piest and  most  desirable  parts  of  this  world  of  ours.  There 
is  little  poverty,  except  occasionally  in  one  or  two  of  the  largest 
cities,  though  on  my  first  visit,  owing  to  an  exceptional  drought, 
soup-kitchens  and  bread-lines  were  established  in  Melbourne, 
and  long  queues  of  down-and-outers  were  waiting  for  their 
daily  crust  and  coffee  at  the  doors  of  several  of  the  churches. 
This  is  not  the  common  lot,  however,  of  Australasians,  and  it 
seemed  to  me  that  New  Zealanders  especially,  more  than  any 


290  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Other  people,  had  obtained  the  answer  to  Agur's  prayer,  "  Give 
me  neither  poverty  nor  riches,"  for  there  are  few  wealthy, 
and  all  are  well-to-do. 

Australia,  like  New  Zealand,  has  been  called  the  "  Political 
Experiment-Station  of  the  World,"  and  well  deserves  the 
name.  Untrammeled  by  the  traditions  of  the  ancients,  by 
hereditary  rights,  or  vested  interests,  these  great  dominions 
have  been  able  to  work  out  some  problems  whose  solution 
America  has  not  been  the  last  to  accept.  These  very  experi- 
ments, however,  have  created  new  problems  which,  if  we  may 
believe  the  Australians  themselves,  are  still  far  from  a  com- 
pletely happy  solution. 

Our  journey  embraced  many  delightful  episodes  which 
space  will  not  allow  me  to  record.  The  reunion  with  old 
friends,  the  making  of  many  new  ones,  the  enthusiastic  and 
undeserved  welcome  from  the  great  audiences,  have  all  left 
most  pleasant  memories.  How  I  would  like  to  dwell  upon  the 
visits  with  such  friends  as  Mr.  John  Spencer,  Mr.  Bush,  Mr. 
Harry,  and  many  others  who  have  been  so  largely  responsible 
for  the  progress  of  Christian  Endeavor  in  Australia,  if  only 
my  space  would  allow! 

The  civic  welcomes  to  my  daughter  and  myself  were  unusual 
experiences  in  some  of  the  smaller  places.  On  one  occasion 
the  mayor  and  councilmen  welcomed  us  as  others  had  done, 
at  the  railway  station,  and  then  with  a  somewhat  elaborate 
lunch.  Not  understanding,  probably,  the  object  of  our  jour- 
ney, various  viands,  including  whiskey,  gin,  wine,  and  beer, 
were  provided,  drinks  which  are  not  often  seen  at  Christian 
Endeavor  banquets.  However,  some  soft  drinks  enabled  us  to 
partake  of  their  hospitality,  and  at  the  same  time  to  hold  fast 
to  our  principles. 

In  another  considerable  town  we  were  the  guests  of  the 
Lord  Mayor  and  the  Lady  Mayoress.  We  noticed  that  the 
table  was  bountifully  heaped  at  every  meal  with  all  sorts  of 
good  things,  and  that  they  were  pressed  upon  us  far  beyond 


AUSTRALIA    AND    SOUTH    AFRICA    REVISITED  29 1 

the  limits  of  our  capacities.  At  the  last  meal  our  good  hostess 
remarked,  somewhat  untactfully,  "  I  was  afraid  I  could  not 
get  enough  for  you  to  eat,  for  I  have  always  heard  that  Ameri- 
cans were  such  gormandizers." 

On  this  visit  we  saw  two  sections  of  Australia  which  we  had 
not  before  visited,  the  beautiful  fertile  state  of  Tasmania  or 
Van  Dieman's  Land,  as  it  was  called  in  our  boyhood^s  geog- 
raphy, and  the  new  state  of  West  Australia.  .  Tasmania  is  a 
wonderfully  attractive  island,  well  watered  and  fertile  in  every 
part,  the  very  paradise  of  the  fruit-grower,  for  apples  ripen 
in  February  and  March,  when  the  markets  of  the  northern 
hemisphere  are  bare,  and  when  this  delicious  fruit  (and  no 
finer  apples  are  grown  anywhere)  brings  its  highest  price. 

Tasmania,  like  New  South  Wales,  was  in  the  early  days 
a  convict  colony,  but  few  traces  of  those  cruel  old  days  are 
left  in  either  state,  and  even  Botany  Bay,  so  unfragrant  in 
the  early  days  of  Australia,  has  now  been  redeemed  from  its 
old  associations.  Here  is  established  a  colony  and  mission  sta- 
tion of  native  Australians  who  are  well  cared  for  by  the  gov- 
ernment. They  are  comfortably  housed,  and  are  instructed  in 
agriculture  and  other  simple  arts  of  which  they  are  capable. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  Christian  Endeavor  meetings 
which  I  attended  during  all  these  weeks  was  held  in  an  aborig- 
inal settlement,  at  a  place  called  La  Perouse,  New  South 
Wales,  on  the  shore  of  Botany  Bay.  Here  Black  Charlie  gave 
the  address  of  welcome,  while  Black  John  presided  over  the 
meeting,  and  the  little  jet-black  Juniors  sang  their  Endeavor 
hymns.  Afterwards  John  and  Charlie  entertained  us  with  a 
rare  exhibition  of  boomerang  throwing,  demonstrating  how 
these  curious  missiles  fly  off  at  a  tangent,  circle  around  through 
the  air,  and  obediently  come  back  to  fall  at  the  feet  of  the 
thrower.  These  Australian  natives,  low  as  they  are  rated  in 
the  scale  of  civilization,  have  contributed  at  least  one  curious 
out-door  sport,  or  art,  shall  we  call  it,  and  a  very  useful  word, 
especially  to  our  political  vocabulary.     A  boomerang! 


292  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Tasmania  is  not  the  only  extraordinary  fruit-producing  sec- 
tion of  Australia.  Queensland  raises  the  finest  pineapples  that 
I  have  ever  tasted,  not  excepting  the  delicious  product  of 
Hawaii.  Its  other  tropical  fruits  are  equally  famous,  while 
South  Australia  rivals  Tasmania  in  its  production  of  apples  and 
grapes.  Apple  orchards  of  thousands  of  acres  are  grown  in 
this  favored  state,  and  any  one  who  finds  himself  in  Adelaide 
in  grape  season  may  well  thank  his  lucky  stars,  for  veritable 
grapes  of  Eschol,  bunches  heavy  enough  to  be  "  borne  of  two," 
of  many  different  flavors,  tempt  the  appetite.  In  South  Aus- 
tralia the  "  grape  cure  "  can  be  no  hardship. 

West  Australia,  the  newest  of  all  the  Australasian  states, 
offers  the  largest  opportunities  for  new  settlers,  and  in  many 
respects  is  quite  as  interesting  as  its  older  sisters.  Several 
kinds  of  trees,  and  many  other  products  which  are  not  grown 
elsewhere,  are  found  in  this  little-known  state.  Among  the 
many  canes  which  have  been  presented  to  me  in  different 
parts  of  the  world,  I  prize  two  beautifully  mounted  "  rasp- 
berry-jam-wood "  sticks,  which  were  given  to  me  in  West 
Australia.  The  wood  is  of  the  finest  grain,  and  takes  a  re- 
markable polish.  It  is  by  no  means  as  sweet  and  sticky  as  its 
name  would  indicate,  but,  when  recently  cut  is  said  to  have  a 
distinct  odor  of  the  delicious  jam  so  dear  to  boyish  palates. 

Our  most  interesting  journey  in  West  Australia  was  to  the 
famous  gold  mine  of  Kalgoorlie  and  Coolgardie.  Far  off  in 
the  desert,  hundreds  of  miles  from  any  adequate  water  supply, 
these  wonderfully  rich  gold  mines  were  discovered.  The 
"  Golden  Mile  "  is  said  to  be  the  richest  spot  on  earth. 

For  years  it  was  impossible  to  work  the  mines  to  advantage, 
for  the  scanty  rains  furnished  little  fresh  water  for  man  or 
beast,  and  none  at  all  for  the  necessary  hydraulic  mining.  Some 
flakes  and  nuggets  could  be  retrieved  from  the  unwilling  earth, 
but  it  was  not  until  an  enormous  pipe-line,  carrying  an  abun- 
dant water  supply  from  near  the  coast,  was  built  through  hun- 
dreds of  miles  of  inhospitable  desert  that  gold  could  be  ob- 


AUSTRALIA    AND    SOUTH    AFRICA    REVISITED  293 

tained,  as  at  present,  in  vast  quantities.  All  day  and  all  night 
on  a  railway  train  we  travelled  beside  this  great  pipe-line, 
writhing  its  way,  like  some  huge  boa  constrictor,  over  hill  and 
dale  and  prairie,  and  delivering  its  delicious  life-giving  fluid 
to  the  thirsty  cities,  hundreds  of  miles  from  the  fountain  head. 
I  have  seldom  been  so  impressed  by  the  pains  that  men  will 
take  and  the  labors  they  will  undergo  in  their  search  for  gold. 

Our  reception  in  the  gold  cities  was  most  kindly,  and  the 
meetings  were  large  and  impressive  under  the  auspices  of  my 
friend.  Rev.  Mr.  Miles,  afterwards  the  president  of  the  West 
Australian  Christian  Endeavor  union,  and  later  still  an  honored 
chaplain  of  the  gallant  Australian  forces  in  the  great  World 
War.  One  little  incident  of  our  journey  to  the  gold-fields 
afforded  us  much  amusement.  Stopping  at  Narrogen,  a  small 
town  on  the  Great  Western  Railway,  a  mass  meeting  was  held 
by  the  Endeavorers  in  the  evening,  where  I  repeated  what  I 
had  recently  heard  said  in  Adelaide,  that  the  kangaroo  was  a 
typical  Christian  Endeavor  animal,  because  it  was  going  for- 
ward in  Australia  "  by  leaps  and  bounds."  My  friends  there, 
at  a  typical  tea  meeting,  where  it  was  said  that  two  thousand  sat 
do,wn  at  the  tables,  had  given  me  a  stuffed  wallaby,  a  small 
species  of  kangaroo,  as  a  specimen  of  "  the  Christian  Endeavor 
animal." 

The  next  morning  after  this  meeting  in  West  Australia,  at 
which  I  had  spoken,  as  I  was  preparing  to  go  to  the  early 
prayer  meeting,  I  was  amazed  to  see  an  "  Old  Man  Kangaroo," 
five  feet  tall,  hopping  alone  sedately  behind  a  family  who  were 
on  their  way  to  church.  He  followed  them  in  and  entered 
one  of  the  back  seats,  and  stayed  patiently  through  the  service. 

He  proved  to  be  a  pet  kangaroo,  but  the  family  remarked 
that  he  must  have  heard  what  I  had  said  on  the  previous  eve- 
ning, and  wanted  to  live  up  to  his  reputation,  for  he  had  never 
followed  them  to  church  before. 

It  was  at  this  meeting  that  I  heard  a  good, brother  pray: 
"  God  bless  the  Y.P.S.C.E.  of  the  G.W.R.U.  of  W.A.,"  which, 


294  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

being  interpreted,  meant  "  the  Young  Peoples'  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor  in  the  Great  Western  Railway  Union  of 
West  Australia." 

A  few  days  after  this  we  sailed  from  the  thriving  port  of 
Perth  for  the  long  journey  across  the  "  Roaring  Forties"  to 
South  Africa.  But  long  sea  journeys  are  the  order  of  the  day 
in  these  latitudes.  Even  the  great  Australian  Bight,  which 
looks  on  the  map  like  a  very  modest  piece  of  water,  involves  a 
journey  of  several  days,  and  nearly  2,000  miles  in  going 
from  the  port  of  Adelaide  to  Perth  on  the  West  Australian 

coast. 

I  was  told  as  we  were  leaving  Perth  that  that  strange 
boastful  pretender,  Alexander  Dowie,  "  Elijah  II,"  had  just 
sailed  from  the  same  port  for  Europe,  but  that  he  was  so 
displeased  with  the  coolness  of  his  reception  and  his  lack  of 
success  in  Australia  that  he  showed  his  displeasure  by  sitting 
on  the  seaward  side  of  the  vessel,  and  never  turning  his  eyes 
toward  the  land  which,  a  few  years  before,  he  had  left  to 
practise  his  hypnotic  arts  on  the  great  multitude  of  people  he 
was  able  to  gather  at  Zion  City  in  America. 

His  life-story  is  a  most  singular  one,  and  shows  to  what 
lengths  fanaticism  can  go.  A  short  time  before  this,  his  dis- 
astrous campaign  in  New  York  had  exposed  him  to  the  ridicule 
of  Americans,  and  hoping  to  recoup  himself,  he  had  returned 
to  Australia,  where  he  had  formerly  lived  as  a  humble  but  use- 
ful shoe  saleman.  From  the  beginning  the  Australians  re- 
fused to  be  beguiled  by  his  blandishments  and  took  no  stock  in 
his  religious  camouflage.  Public  halls  were  everywhere  re- 
fused to  him,  and  when  he  could  manage  to  hire  a  private  hall, 
students  would  often  make  it  decidedly  uncomfortable  for 
the  audience,  with  snuff  and  asafoetida.  Yet  all  the  time  he 
was  sending  back  to  America  cables  about  the  millions 
of  dollars  that  he  had  secured  in  Australia,  and  the  thousands 
of  converts  who  would  follow  him  to  Zion  City. 

Our  journey  to  Natal,  some  5,000  miles  from  Perth,  was 


AUSTRALIA    AND    SOUTH    AFRICA    REVISITED 


295 


uneventful,  but  varied  by  the  many  deck  sports  and  enter- 
tainments, which,  on  these  long  voyages  the  passengers  always 
provide  for  themselves,  in  self-defense  against  the  tedium  of 
travel.  Personally  I  have  always  had  another  method  of 
making  a  long  journey  short,  for  articles  for  The  Christian 
Endeavor  World,  and  for  many  other  journals  have  always 
occupied  many  hours  every  day,  and  more  books  than  I  perhaps 


The  Principal  Street  in  Durban 

Note  the  Zulu  jinrikisha  men  in  uniform,  with  cows'   horns  bound  to  their 

foreheads. 

ought  to  confess  to  have  been  the  result  of  such  steamship 
hours  when  there  was  nothing  else  to  do  but  read  and  write. 

Unfortunately  the  "  Marathon  "  was  a  day  or  two  late  in 
making  the  port  of  Durban  and  my  friends  of  Natal,  ex- 
pecting to  meet  me  on  a  certain  day  when  the  boat  was  due, 
came  together  in  large  numbers,  but  found  no  stranger  to 
welcome  at  the  welcome  meeting.  However  they  welcomed 
each  other  and  enjoyed  a  happy  gathering,  though  most  of 


296  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

those  who  came  from  a  distance  had  to  return  to  their  homes 
before  the  steamer  arrived.  Nevertheless  a  sort  of  addendum 
to  the  welcome  meeting  was  held  during  our  short  stay  in 
Durban,  and  I  was  able  to  renew  some  prized  friendships  made 
on  my  previous  visit. 

While  dining  at  the  house  of  a  missionary  I  was  called  out 
into  another  room  by  a  mysterious  message,  and  there  found 
a  young  man  whom  I  had  known  slightly  as  one  of  our  fellow- 
voyagers,  who  abruptly  and  uncompromisingly  shot  at  me  the 
question,  "  Dr.  Clark,  may  I  court  your  daughter?  "  I  was 
rather  taken  aback,  for  I  knew  him  but  slightly,  and  I  knew 
that  my  daughter  had  scarcely  spoken  to  him.  But  he  went  on 
to  tell  me  of  his  fortune  of  two  thousand  pounds  a  year,  of 
his  well-known  family  connections  in  England,  etc. 

Not  wishing  to  decide  so  momentous  a  question,  and  know- 
ing very  well  what  the  answer  on  my  daughter's  part  would 
be,  I  paraphrased  Priscilla's  speech  to  John  Alden,  and  said, 
"Why  not  speak  for  yourself,  John?  "  A  short  interview 
with  my  daughter  followed,  and  as  a  result  our  young  friend 
decided  to  take  another  steamer  to  Lo-ndon,  and  we  saw  him 
no  more. 

An  inch  or  two  on  the  ordinary  map  of  South  Africa 
means  several  days  of  steaming  from  Durban  to  Capetown, 
though  both  seemed  to  be  near  the  tip  end  of  the  Dark 
Continent. 

Here  in  the  capital  of  Cape  Colony  we  had  two  or  three 
days  before  the  steamer  sailed  on  which  we  had  engaged 
passage  to  Southampton,  and  I  attended  a  memorable  meet- 
ing which  my  friends  had  arranged  in  the  Adderley  Street 
Dutch  Reformed  Church,  where  I  had  also  spoken  on  my  pre- 
vious visit.  The  Boer  War  which  was  only  a  few  months  in 
the  future  when  I  was  first  in  South  Africa,  was  now  a  few 
months  in  the  past,  but  the  exceedingly  bitter  feeling  generated 
by  this  unjust  war  had  by  no  means  had  time  to  cool  down. 
No  meeting  of  any  kind,  I  was  told,  had  then  been  held  be- 


AUSTRALIA    AND    SOUTH    AFRICA    REVISITED  297 

tween  Boers  and  British.  They  were  scarcely  yet  on  speaking 
terms  with  each  other,  since  Great  Britain's  generous  policy 
toward  the  former  Boer  Republic  had  not  been  formulated. 

But  the  Christian  Endeavorers,  both  among  the  Boers  and 
the  British,  had  determined  to  bury  the  hatchet,  and  to  have  a 
union  meeting.  I  ,was  greatly  surprised  and  gratified  to  find 
a  large  audience  of  both  races,  and  to  see  the  walls  of  the 
church  decorated  with  the  familiar  mottoes  in  the  two  lan- 
guages: "  For  Christ  and  the  Church,"  "  One  is  our  Master, 
even  Christ,  and  all  we  are  brethren,"  "  Welcome  to  South 
Africa,"  etc. 

The  president  of  the  Boer  union  gave  the  address  of  wel- 
come, while  the  president  of  the  British  union  was  the  chair- 
man of  the  meeting.  After  the  addresses  the  chairman 
proposed  that  we  should  all  rise  and  repeat  Psalm  23,  each  one 
using  the  language  with  which  he  was  most  familiar.  Then 
we  repeated  the  Lord's  Prayer,  some  in  Dutch  and  some  in 
English,  and  then,  most  remarkable  of  all,  we  stood  and  sang 
the  old  hymn  of  Christian  fellowship, 

"  Blest  be  the  tie  that  binds 
Our  hearts  in  Christian  love." 

It  was  sung  most  heartily  in  the  two  languages  to  the  old 
tune  of  "  Dennis,"  and  was  one  of  the  most  thrilling  expres- 
sions that  I  had  ever  known  of  what  Christian  fellowship  can 
do  to  bring  together  former  enemies. 

Many  of  the  young  men  in  the  audience  were  Boers  who  had 
just  been  released  from  the  prison  camps  in  St.  Helena  and  Cey- 
lon. On  each  of  these  islands  were  thousands  of  prisoners  and  a 
score  of  Christian  Endeavor  societies  had  been  established  in 
each  of  the  two  great  cantonments.  Daily  meetings  had  been 
held,  full  of  spirit  and  power.  Conventions  had  also  been 
held  among  the  Endeavorers,  and  a  little  paper  called  De 
Strever  had  been  published. 

The  prisoners  had  amused  themselves  by  making  Christian 


298  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Endeavor  pins  of  bone,  and  also  sleeve  links  with  the  Christian 
Endeavor  monogram  upon  them.  Most  wonderful  of  all,  250 
prisoners  from  St.  Helena  alone  had  volunteered,  before  they 
left  their  prison,  to  go  as  missionaries  to  the  heart  of  Africa. 
From  these  prison  camps  many  of  the  young  men  in  that  au- 
dience had  recently  been  released,  while  others  who  sat  by 
their  side  had  worn  the  British  khaki,  and  had  been  their 
strenuous  foes  only  a  few  months  before.  The  memory  of  this 
moving  scene  often  cheered  me  afterwards  as  I  remem- 
bered in  those  dreadful  days  of  the  World  War,  that  the 
impelling  love  of  Christ  might  bring  together  even  those  who 
were  fighting  in  the  hostile  camps  into  which  the  whole  world 
was  divided. 

The  voyage  on  the  "  Armadale  Castle  "  from  Capetown  to 
Southampton  was  memorable  only  for  its  smoothness  and  lack 
of  adventure.  As  Captain  Robinson  said  to  me  one  day,  "  One 
can  usually  drive  a  hansom  cab  from  Capetown  to  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  and  you  would  not  get  wet  if  you  kept  the  door  shut, 
unless  possibly  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay,"  —  such  a  delightful 
reputation  for  smooth  water  did  this  journey  deserve. 

This  Captain  Robinson  was  the  most  remarkable  captain  I 
have  ever  sailed  with.  For  forty  years  he  had  been  in  the 
service  of  the  Union  Castle  Line,  most  of  the  time  as  com- 
mander of  one  of  its  great  ships.  He  was  at  this  time  the 
commodore  of  the  fleet,  always  having  the  largest  ship  for  his 
command,  and  never  having  had  an  accident  even  to  the  scrap- 
ing of  the  paint  on  the  ship's  bow  during  all  these  years.  He 
ascribed  this,  not  to  good  fortune,  but  to  the  good  providence 
of  God,  for  he  was  the  most  religious  of  men. 

Every  morning  he  used  to  summon  the  passengers  to  prayers 
on  the  after-deck,  falling  out  as  he  breezily  swung  along  to 
his  post:  "  Come  along,  come  along  to. prayers!  "  He  was  fol- 
lowed usually  by  two  or  three  hundred  passengers,  including 
diamond  kings  from  Kimberley,  barmaids  from  Johannesburg, 
and  the  mixed  crowd  which  a  South  African  steamer  carries. 


AUSTRALIA    AND    SOUTH    AFRICA    REVISITED  299 

These  devotions  he  usually  conducted  himself,  and  always 
held  services  on  Sunday  in  the  first  and  second  cabins,  and  the 
steerage,  besides  having  a  Sunday  school  for  the  children,  in 
his  own  spacious  and  beautifully  fitted  up  room. 

In  this  cabin  I  spent  many  hours  with  him,  and  I  noticed  that 
frequently  when  we  heard  the  watchman  in  the  crow's  nest  cry 
out,  "  Four  bells  and  all's  well,"  or  "  Eight  bells  and  all's 
well,"  he  would  raise  his  hand  and  looking  up  to  heaven  would 
say  reverently,  "  All's  well,  thank  God!  " 

After  sixteen  days  we  sailed  into  the  Solent,  landing  again 
in  Southampton  where  we  said  good-bye  to  our  good  captain, 
heartily  repeating  with  him  after  this  happy  voyage,  "  All's 
well,  thank  God!  " 


Chapter  XXVII 
Years  i  904-1 905 

HOME    AGAIN    AND    OFF    AGAIN 

HOME  BY  WAY  OF  FRANCE,  ENGLAND,  SCOTLAND,  GERMANY 

MY  father's  GRAVE A  CALL  ON   PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT 

CROSSING     THE     SEAS     ONCE     MORE A     HISTORY     OF 

CHRISTIAN      ENDEAVOR    OBER-AMMERGAU    NORWAY 

AND  KING  HAAKON. 

HRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  had  now  become 
such  a  world-wide  movement  that  there  was 
little  rest  for  any  one  who  might  be  con- 
sidered its  exponent  at  whatever  port  he 
might  land,  and  both  at  Southampton,  where 
we  arrived  from  South  Africa,  and  London, 
my  daughter  and  I  found  scores  of  friends  to  welcome  us,  and 
a  large  programme  outlined  for  Great  Britain,  which  took  us 
to  almost  every  part  of  the  United  Kingdom. 

My  time  on  shipboard  had  not  been  altogether  wasted,  and 
I  found  on  reaching  dry  land  that  during  the  sixteen  days  on 
the  "  Armadale  Castle,"  I  had  written  sixteen  articles  of  con- 
siderable length,  seven  for  my  own  paper.  The  Christian  En- 
deavor Worlds  four  for  a  syndicate  of  newspapers,  two  for 
The  Inde-pendenty  and  three  articles  for  other  papers,  whose 
destination  my  note  book  does  not  record. 

I  am  sorry  for  the  man  who  has  nothing  to  keep  him  busy 
on  a  long  voyage.  It  is  apt  to  be  most  wearisome,  and  perhaps 
demoralizing  if  the  bar,  the  smoking-room,  and  the  card- tables 
take  up  most  of  his  time.  But  with  a  fountain  pen  and  a  pad 
of  paper  and  plenty  of  time  left  for  exercise  and  deck  games 

300 


HOME    AGAIN    AND    OFF    AGAIN  3OI 

of  all  sorts,  a  voyage,  however  long,  can  scarcely  be  weari- 
some. Moreover,  the  articles  thus  written,  and  which  number 
many  hundreds  all  told,  have  in  large  part  enabled  me  to  pay 
the  expenses  of  these  many  journeys,  without  drawing  upon 
the  benevolent  funds  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  society,  or 
burdening  the  organizations  which  I  have  gone  to  address  with 
a  large  expense  account. 

Immediately  on  landing,  however,  visions  of  leisure  for 
literary  work  always  disappear,  and  one  has  a  feeling  of  being 
owned  by  the  committees  that  at  once  take  him  in  charge. 
It  is  not,  however,  a  disagreeable  slavery,  for  the  friends  are 
always  kindness  itself,  though  one  sometimes  longs  for  relief 
from  being  "  entertained  "  by  comparative  strangers,  and  my 
wife  and  I  must  confess,  that  occasionally,  on  some  journeys, 
we  have  "  played  hooky  "  from  meetings  and  entertainers,  and 
taken  refuge  for  a  short  time  in  some  obscure  resort  in  Swit- 
zerland or  Holland  or  Italy,  ,where  Endeavorers  are  few  and 
far  between. 

Sometimes  the  hospitality  of  our  friends,  after  a  long  and 
exhausting  day  of  meetings,  would  keep  us  up  until  the  small 
hours  of  the  next  morning,  their  generous  kindness  leading 
them  to  forget  that  strenuous  duties  awaited  us  on  the  next  day. 
Lest  these  remarks  may  seem  ungracious,  let  me  hasten  to  add 
that  this  kindly  hospitality  has  never  found  us  ungrateful  or 
unappreciative,  but  has  often  filled  us  with  wonder  that  it 
should  be  lavished  upon  those  who  felt  themselves  so  unworthy 
of  it.  Of  course  we  never  forgot  that  it  was  the  cause  which 
we  represented  that  chiefly  commended  us  to  friends  and  ac- 
quaintances. 

The  first  series  of  meetings  that  demanded  my  attention  on 
this  journey  was  the  British  National  Endeavor  Convention  of 
1904,  held  in  London,  one  of  the  most  important  ever  held  in 
Great  Britain.  Its  size  will  be  understood  when  I  note  that  it 
cro,wded  with  simultaneous  meetings  the  City  Temple,  Exeter 
Hall,  the  Metropolitan  Tabernacle  (Spurgeon's  great  church), 


302  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

and  Westminster  Chapel,  where  Campbell  Morgan  was  so  long 
a  pastor,  and  to  which  Dr.  J.  H.  Jowett  afterwards  ministered. 
Albert  Hall,  seating  8,000  people,  was  used  for  an  enormous 
praise  meeting. 

My  duties  in  connection  with  the  convention  called  for 
addresses  in  most  of  these  places,  as  well  as  in  Christ  Church, 
Regent's  Park  Chapel,  and  Paddington  Chapel.  My  diary 
records  the  fact  that  twenty-three  delegates  were  present 
from  Germany,  and  that  an  "  International  Brotherhood  of 
Christian  Endeavor  "  was  organized.  Alas!  that  the  ties  then 
formed,  and  cemented  on  future  similar  occasions,  should  have 
been  so  rudely  torn  asunder  by  the  Great  War. 

It  would  be  wearisome  to  record  in  more  than  a  line  or  two 
the  other  places  visited  in  Great  Britain,  like  Sunderland, 
Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  Belfast,  Cork,  Dublin,  Chester,  Shef- 
field, Batley,  Dartmouth,  Exeter,  Bristol,  Liverpool,  Swansea, 
and  Southampton,  in  all  of  which  places  important  meetings 
had  been  arranged  and  were  well  carried  out. 

While  I  was  in  Scotland,  an  invitation  out  of  the  ordinary 
came  to  me  to  address  the  General  Assembly  of  the  United 
Free  Church  which  was  meeting  in  Edinburgh.  The  grave 
and  reverend  fathers  of  this  greatest  branch  of  the  Scotch 
Presbyterians  received  my  short  message  very  kindly,  and  the 
solemn  decorum  of  the  body  in  the  historic  Free  Assembly 
Hall  deeply  impressed  me  with  the  staunch  character  and  high 
intellectual  standards  of  the  leaders  of  this  very  important 
branch  of  the  church  universal. 

A  short  journey  to  the  continent  of  Europe  followed  these 
meetings  in  Great  Britain,  and  I  have  records  of  important 
gatherings  in  Paris,  Geneva,  Lausanne,  Karlsruhe,  Stuttgart, 
Strassburg,  and  again  in  Liverpool,  before  sailing  from  the 
latter  city  for  home  on  the  last  day  of  June,  1904.  One  brief 
holiday  which  I  enjoyed  with  my  daughter  in  the  midst  of 
these  many  meetings  will  not  easily  be  forgotten.  We  sailed 
from  Southampton  on  a  channel  steamer,  and  after  stopping 


HOME    AGAIN    AND    OFF    AGAIN  3O3 

for  a  few  hours  in  the  Island  of  Guernsey,  where  the  wharves 
were  crowded  with  new  potatoes,  onions,  and  early  "  garden- 
truck,"  we  landed  at  the  French  port  of  St.  Malo  for  a  visit 
to  the  wonderful  rock  fortress,  castle,  and  church  of  San 
Michel,  which  stands  up  on  the  coast  of  France  like  a  natural 
beacon  for  every  passing  ship. 

It  must  be  seen  to  be  appreciated.  No  description  unac- 
companied by  a  photograph  could  do  it  justice.  Rising  sheer 
out  of  the  water,  at  high  tide  almost  surrounded  by  the  lap- 
ping waves,  it  would  of  itself  be  a  striking  world  landmark. 
But  the  little  town  also  which  climbs  the  steep  sides  of  the 
rock,  the  quaint  inhabitants  who  seem  to  have  retained  their 
old-fashioned  customs  as  none  others  of  their  countrymen 
have,  the  striking  castle,  and  historic  church,  all  lend  a  unique 
pleasure  to  a  visit  to  Mount  San  Michel.  Even  the  closet 
bedrooms  in  the  primitive  hotel,  where  one's  bed  is  shoved 
into  an  alcove  barely  wide  enough  to  receive  it,  and  the  rival 
Mesdames  Poulet,  all  of  whom  serve  the  only  original 
"  Poulet  omelet,"  furnish  memories  that  long  abide. 

Before  the  strenuous  meetings  on  the  continent  began,  which 
often,  as  in  England,  involved  five  or  six  addresses  in  a  day, 
we  also  paid  a  little  visit  to  Argentan,  where  one  may  see  the 
descendants  of  his  Norman  ancestors  in  their  old  home,  still 
retaining  many  of  their  primitive  manners  and  costumes. 

Returning  to  America  in  mid-July,  we  all  spent  a  happy 
family  summer  in  our  little  cottagCj  at  Pine  Point,  on  the  coast 
of  Maine.  The  rest  of  the  year  1904  need  not  be  dwelt  upon 
at  length,  though  my  journal  records  an  almost  continuous 
series  of  meetings  in  America,  east  and  west  and  north  and 
south,  including  addresses  at  the  original  Chautauqua  Assembly, 
the  National  Congregational  Council  in  Des  Moines,  and  other 
important  meetings  besides  Christian  Endeavor  conventions, 
as  well  as  a  delightful  August  fortnight  with  my  eldest  son 
and  a  little  party  of  congenial  friends,  among  our  favorite 
trout-streams  and  lakes  in  northern  Maine. 


304  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

A  mid-winter  trip  to  Canada  early  in  1905  is  worthy  of  men- 
tion, for  then,  for  the  first  time,  I  saw  my  father's  grave,  at 
Three  Rivers,  in  the  peaceful  little  Protestant  cemetery  where 
for  more  than  fifty  years  his  body  had  lain.  I  was  glad  to 
find  it  marked  with  a  comely  stone  containing  his  name  and 
age,  and  the  appropriate  verse,  "  The  memory  of  the  just  is 
blessed."  Near  to  his  was  the  grave  of  his  older  brother, 
Henry,  and  several  members  of  this  brother's  family  who  had 
made  their  residence  in  Three  Rivers  for  many  years. 

The  spring  of  1904  was  saddened  by  the  death  of  my 
adopted  father.  Rev.  Edward  W.  Clark,  and  the  next  year  by 
the  passing  of  Mrs.  Clark's  mother,  Mrs.  Sarah  F.  Abbott. 
They  both  lived  to  the  good  old  age  of  eighty-four,  and  were 
gathered  to  their  fathers  and  mothers  like  shocks  of  corn,  fully 
ripe  for  the  great  Reaper.  In  an  earlier  chapter  I  have  spoken 
of  my  adopted  father,  and  I  need  only  add  that  his  later  years 
were  passed  in  quiet  and  comfort  at  his  home  in  Westboro, 
Mass.,  and  that  I  was  glad  to  do  what  I  could  to  repay  in  his  old 
age  his  early  care  and  kindness  to  me.  Soon  after  his  death  my 
adopted  mother  came  to  live  with  us  in  Auburndale,  where  she 
spent  five  happy  years  in  "  Sunny  Corner,"  as  she  called  the 
pleasant  southwest  room  at  "  Hillcrest,"  which  overlooked 
the  tree-embowered  Charles  and  the  lovely  Weston  Hills. 
Here  she  lived  until  her  peaceful  translation  in  1908. 

Mrs.  Abbott,  who  was  the  daughter  and  granddaughter  of 
ministers,  who  married  a  minister,  and  trained  three  of  her 
daughters  to  be  ministers'  wives,  left  a  fragrant  memory  be- 
hind her  in  Andover,  where  she  had  lived  during  the  many 
years  of  her  widowhood.  Many  "  theologues  "  and  Academy 
boys  whom  she  had  nursed  in  illness,  or  cared  for  in  times  of 
financial  distress,  bore  grateful  testimony  to  her  kindness  of 
heart. 

A  visit  to  Washington  about  this  time  I  remember  with 
considerable  interest  because  of  a  call  on  President  Roosevelt, 
whom   I   tried  to  induce  to  come  to  the  next   International 


HOME    AGAIN    AND    OFF    AGAIN  3O5 

Christian  Endeavor  convention,  which  was  to  be  held  at  Balti- 
more. The  pastor  of  the  German  Reformed  Church,  which 
the  President  attended,  went  with  me,  and  we  enjoyed  a  pleas- 
ant half  hour's  chat  with  the  nation's  strenuous  chief.  He 
was  most  unconventional,  sitting  on  the  corner  of  his  desk,  often 
slapping  his  knee  by  way  of  emphasis,  and  frequently  punc- 
tuating his  remarks  with  a  "  By  George,"  or  some  other  like 
expletive.  "  I  set  under  him,"  he  remarked,  pointing  to  his 
pastor,  and  using  the  old  settlers'  expression  of  the  days  when 
the  pulpits  were  high,  and  the  square  pews  below  compelled  an 
almost  literal  interpretation  of  the  phrase. 

He  took  my  plea  under  consideration,  declaring  that  he 
would  like  to  attend  the  convention,  for  he  believed  that  the 
Christian  Endeavor  movement  was  one  of  the  greatest  moral 
forces  in  the  country,  but  was  finally  obliged  to  decline  the 
invitation  on  account  of  pressing  duties  in  other  places,  which 
he  explained  in  a  long  and  courteous  letter. 

I  recall  another  brief  interview  with  President  Roosevelt 
which  I  think  must  have  occurred  before  this  visit.  I  wanted 
his  endorsement  for  a  good  citizenship  constitution  and  pledge 
which  I  was  proposing  for  the  adoption  of  Christian  En- 
deavorers  generally.  He  received  me,  as  was  then  his  custom, 
in  a  large  room  opening  out  of  the  room  where  cabinet  meetings 
were  held.  Here  were  probably  twenty  applicants  for  favors 
of  various  kinds  anxiously  waiting  their  turns.  His  plan 
evidently  was  to  avoid  prolonged  interviews,  and  to  talk  so 
that  all  could  hear,  that  there  might  be  no  private  interpreta- 
tion of  what  he  had  or  had  not  said.  A  distinguished  senator 
was  one  of  the  waiting  company,  and,  as  he  knew  the  door 
through  which  the  President  would  emerge  from  another  room, 
he  stationed  himself  near  by,  to  "  nab  "  him  as  he  entered. 
I  did  not  hear  the  senator's  request,  but  every  one  in  the  room 
could  hear  the  President's  reply,  "  Can't  do  it,  Mr.  Depew, 
can't  possibly  do  it,"  and  with  a  word  or  two  more  he  passed 
on  to  the  next  visitor. 


306  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

In  the  interview  I  have  previously  alluded  to  in  the  execu- 
tive office  of  the  White  House,  he  spoke  with  the  utmost 
freedom  of  national  and  international  affairs,  and  the  waiting 
reporters,  as  we  came  out,  were,  as  usual,  very  anxious  to  learn 
his  views.  In  his  very  frankness  and  exuberant  outspokenness 
lay  his  safety  from  ill-natured  interviewers,  for  few  would 
take  advantage  of  such  a  friendly  conversation,  in  which  there 
was  no  trace  of  "  secret  diplomacy." 

The  many  and  varied  duties  at  which  I  have  hinted  were 
in  part  responsible,  I  suppose,  for  a  collapse  in  health  in  the 
spring  of  1905.  Like  the  woman  in  the  Gospels,  I  suffered 
much  from  many  physicians,  and  was  "nothing  bettered,  but 
rather  grew  worse."  However,  it  was  no  fault  of  theirs,  for  my 
old  enemy,  nervous  exhaustion,  induced  in  this  case,  as  it  had 
been  before,  not  only  by  overwork,  but  by  an  attack  of  in- 
fluenza, laid  me  low,  and  for  this  the  best  physicians  in  the 
world  can  do  little.  Dr.  Rest  is  about  the  only  one  who  can 
help,  but  I  did  not  give  up  without  a  prolonged  struggle, 
during  which  I  visited  the  excellent  sanitarium  at  Clifton 
Springs,  took  a  short  sea  trip  to  Norfolk,  and  tried  other 
remedies.  Most  reluctantly  I  was  obliged  at  last  to  cancel  a 
long  series  of  conventions  in  the  west,  and,  greatly  to  my 
sorrow,  was  unable  to  go  to  the  International  Convention  at 
Baltimore.  This  gathering,  however,  suffered  little  from  my 
absence,  and  was  one  of  the  best  of  the  long  series.  Here 
was  started  the  plan  for  a  central  headquarters  for  the 
Christian  Endeavor  movement.  These  plans  after  more  than 
a  dozen  years  took  shape  in  the  substantial  and  dignified  office 
buiJding  on  the  corner  of  Mt.  Vernon  and  Joy  Streets,  Boston. 

To  it  something  over  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  were 
contributed  by  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  Endeavorers  in 
all  parts  of  the  world.  More  than  fifty  countries  in  Europe, 
Asia,  Africa,  the  Americas,  and  Australasia,  have  part  in  this 
unique  building.  I  was  told  that  it  was  started  as  a  memorial 
to  myself,  a  kindly  thought,  prompted,  doubtless,  by  the  illness 


HOME    AGAIN    AND    OFF    AGAIN  3O7 

which  prevented  me  from  going  to  Baltimore,  but  as  I  re- 
covered, and  was  not  in  need  of  a  post  mortem  memorial,  1 
preferred  that  it  should  be  called  the  World's  Christian  En- 
deavor Building. 

My  health  improved  somewhat  in  the  summer,  aided  by 
abundant  doses  of  Maine  air  and  sunshine,  taken  in  liberal 
quantities  at  our  cottage  at  Grand  Beach,  in  the  pine  woods,  and 
on  the  trout  ponds  of  the  Moosehead  Lake  region. 

However  this  prescription  did  not  seem  to  bring  back  com- 
plete health  and  strength,  and  in  October,  with  Mrs.  Clark  and 
my  youngest  son  I  sailed  for  Europe  with  four  objects  in  view, 
namely,  to  complete  if  possible,  my  restoration  to  health  j  to 
write  the  history  of  the  first  twenty-five  years  of  Christian 
Endeavor j  to  do  what  I  could  for  the  cause  of  the  young 
people  on  the  continent  of  Europe;  and  to  help  prepare  for  the 
world's  convention,  which  was  scheduled  to  be  held  in  Geneva, 
Switzerland,  in  the  summer  of  1906. 

In  some  good  measure  I  was  able  to  carry  out  these  purposes. 
My  health  continued  to  improve,  and  after  some  weeks  of 
travel  in  Italy,  during  which  we  again  visited  Genoa,  Pisa, 
Florence  and  Bologna,  Padua  and  Verona,  spending  also  some 
days  in  Venice,  we  went  via  Switzerland  to  Munich,  where  we 
made  headquarters  for  some  three  months,  while  writing  the 
history  to  which  I  have  alluded. 

In  this  I  was  greatly  assisted  by  Mrs.  Clark  and  her  busy 
typewriter  which  she  always  carries  in  her  trunk,  for  she  wrote 
from  dictation  the  630  large  pages  of  this  volume,  besides 
assisting  me  with  many  suggestions  which  I  was  glad  to  incor- 
porate in  it.  The  book  was  profusely  illustrated  with  nearly 
two  hundred  half-tone  engravings,  portraits,  and  etchings,  and 
is  the  only  complete  history  of  the  first  quarter  century  of  the 
movement. 

We  found  Munich  a  comfortable  and  hospitable  place  of 
residence,  and  especially  suited  to  our  needs  just  at  that  time 
because,  being  a  Roman  Catholic  city,  the  absence,  for  the  most 


308  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

part,  of  Endeavor  societies  gave  us  the  leisure  for  writing  that 
,we  could  not  otherwise  have  had.  The  American  Church  under 
the  leadership  of  Rev.  Mr.  McCracken,  was  a  pleasant  religious 
home  for  us  and  some  scores  of  other  Americans  with  whom  we 
there  became  acquainted,  though  we  had  little  time  for  social 
enjoyments. 

The  quarter-century  history  of  Christian  Endeavor  being 
finished  and  despatched  to  the  publishers,  we  indulged  in  a 
little  holiday  trip  to  Ober-Ammergau,  which  is  only  a  few 
hours'  ride  from  Munich.    It  was  mid-winter,  and  the  next  de- 
cennial production  of  the  Passion  Play  was  some  years  in  the 
future,  yet  in  some  respects  the  visit  was  more  enjoyable  on 
this  account.    There  were  naturally  no  crowds  of  gaping  tour- 
ists.    Indeed  we  were  the  only  guests  in  the  principal  hotel 
of  the  village.     For  this  reason  we  could  better  judge  of  the 
ordinary  life  of  the  little  town  and  of  the  character  of  the  actors 
who  have  made  so  deep  an  impression  upon  the  religious  world. 
The  judgment  we  formed  of  their  sincerity  and  genuine  re- 
ligious purpose  was  altogether  favorable.     They  live  in  the 
humblest  style,  working  at  their  trades,  with  no  halo  around 
their  heads,  and  evidently  unspoiled  by  the  fame  they  have 
achieved  throughout  the  world.     Moreover  they  are  unam- 
bitious for  the  wealth  their  great  play  might  bring  them.    It  is 
truly  remarkable  that  these  peasant  actors,  when  the  excitement 
of  the  ten-year  epoch  is  over,  an  epoch  that  brings  thousands 
of  visitors  from  all  lands  to  their  little  village,  can  settle  down 
so  quietly  to  their  daily  tasks,  with  no  consciousness  apparently 
of  the  fact  that  for  a  time  they  were  the  observed  of  all  ob- 
servers, and  that  their  fame  had  been  trumpeted  throughout 
the  world. 

The  World  War  and  its  disastrous  aftermath  necessarily  pre- 
vented the  production  of  the  Passion  Play  in  1920,  but  I  am 
glad  to  know  that  it  was  revived  in  1922,  for  I  think  its  moral 
and  religious  influence  is  wholly  good. 

We  called  on  several  of  the  actors,  among  them  Anton  Lang, 


HOME    AGAIN    AND    OFF    AGAIN  3O9 

who  took  the  part  of  the  Christ,  and  Peter  Rendl,  the  St.  John 
of  the  play,  and  also  on  Andreas  Lang,  who  was  the  King 
David  of  another  play  given  in  the  five-year  interval.  Of 
him  we  bought  some  wood  carvings  representing  "  The  Good 
Shepherd  with  the  Lost  Sheep,"  and  also  one  of  "  The  Last 
Supper,"  in  which  the  figures  of  the  apostles  are  copied  from 
the  people  who  represented  them  in  the  play,  though  the  pose 
is  that  of  Da  Vinci's  famous  "  Last  Supper."  So  perfect  and 
accurate  are  these  little  figures  that  one  can  recognize  the  faces 
of  the  actors  in  each  one. 

The  little  church  with  its  crowded  cemetery  is  evidently  the 
heart  of  the  village,  and  I  was  convinced  that  the  peasant  actors 
not  only  preserved  their  simple  piety,  but  performed  their  parts 
in  the  great  tragedy  from  a  sincerely  religious  motive.  The 
weather  was  very  cold  and  deliciously  bracing,  and  the  crisp 
snow  lay  on  every  hill,  and  in  the  valley  through  which  the 
little  Ammer  winds  its  way,  while  the  glorious  hills  and  plains, 
and  the  dark  pine  trees,  were  even  more  impressive  under  their 
glistening  mantle  of  snow  than  they  could  be  in  summer. 

On  returning  from  Ober-Ammergau  I  was  again  called  to 
Scandinavia  to  attend  meetings  in  Christiania,  Gothenburg, 
and  Stockholm. 

My  visit  to  Norway  on  this  journey  was  of  peculiar  interest 
because  I  was  permitted  to  see  some  fruit  of  the  Christian  En- 
deavor seed  which  I  had  been  allowed  to  sow  on  a  previous 
visit.  Some  years  before  I  had  spoken  at  the  university,  but 
somehow  received  the  impression  that  my  audience,  though 
exceedingly  polite  and  friendly,  thought  I  was  talking  about 
some  strange  and  rather  bizarre  American  organization,  of 
which  little  use  could  be  made  in  Norway.  But  on  this  visit  I 
found  that  a  number  of  Endeavor  societies  had  been  formed, 
and  that  some  very  warm  friends  of  the  movement  were  ad- 
vocating it  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  Norway. 
Pre-eminent  among  them  ,were  two  Lutheran  pastors  of 
Christiania,  —  Pastor  Meyer  and  Pastor  Klaeboe. 


3IO  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Pastor  Klaeboe  has  since  been  especially  energetic  in  the 
Christian  Endeavor  propaganda,  sparing  neither  effort,  nor 
time,  nor  money  to  tell  of  its  value  in  training  the  youth  of 
Norway  for  Christian  service.  He  has  travelled  with  me  for 
hundreds  of  miles  in  the  Scandinavian  countries.  He  has  been 
my  guide,  interpreter,  and  friend,  to  whom  I  owe  a  much 
larger  tribute  of  thanks  than  I  can  condense  in  these  paragraphs. 
He  is  president  of  the  Norwegian  Christian  Endeavor  Union, 
and  at  last  accounts  had  no  less  than  eighteen  societies  in  his 
own  great  church  in  Christiania. 

Rev.  Horace  Button,  my  neighbor  in  Auburndale,  was  for 
five  years  an  unpaid  pioneer  Christian  Endeavor  worker  in 
Scandinavia  and  near-by  countries,  and  left  a  memory  which  I 
found  twenty  years  later  was  held  in  fond  remembrance  in 
half  a  dozen  countries. 

On  this  visit  I  first  became  acquainted  with  Rev.  Robert  P. 
Anderson,  then  a  missionary  of  the  Disciples  Church  in 
Christiania.  He  was  a  cultured  Scotchman  who  had  lived  in 
America.  He  has  a  real  gift  for  authorship,  and  is  of  untiring 
industry.  We  soon  persuaded  him  to  come  to  Boston  to  be  an 
associate  editor  of  The  Christian  Endeavor  Worlds  a  position 
he  has  honored  ever  since.  He  afterwards  became  editorial 
secretary  of  The  United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  and  has 
contributed  more  to  the  literature  of  the  society  than  any  other 
man  unless  it  be  Dr.  Wells. 

While  I  was  in  Christiania  I  had  the  pleasure  of  an  inter- 
view with  King  Haakon  VII.,  the  young  sailor  king  of  Norway, 
who  in  his  person  and  name  had  revived  the  long  line  of  the 
Haakons  which  began  in  the  early  Norse  history  of  his  king- 
dom. He  is  a  grandson  of  old  King  Christian  of  Denmark, 
and  married  a  granddaughter  of  Queen  Victoria,  so  that  there 
is  plenty  of  royal  blood  in  the  family  to  maintain  the  dignity 
of  the  ancient  Haakons.  He  impressed  me  as  a  wide- 
awake, alert,  democratic  young  man,  who  puts  on  few  kingly 
airs.     On  this  occasion  he  wore  not  a  single  decoration. 


HOME    AGAIN    AND    OFF    AGAIN  3II 

Around  the  walls  of  the  room  in  the  palace  where  I  was 
received  were  many  pictures  of  ships,  sailing  vessels,  if  I  re- 
member rightly,  and  yachts,  thus  testifying  to  his  right  to  be 
called  "The  Sailor  Prince." 

Another  call  that  I  remember  with  interest  was  on  Bishop 
Bang,  one  of  the  most  beloved  and  influential  men  who  has 
ever  held  that  high  office.  His  nephew.  Pastor  Klaeboe,  who 
had  become  the  leader  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  forces  in 
Norway,  called  with  me,  which  secured  me  a  double  welcome. 

At  the  great  service  in  the  cathedral  of  Christiania,  my 
friend,  Stiftprovst  Meyer,  was  my  interpreter.  I  have  rarely 
seen  a  church  more  crowded,  and  the  scene  in  these  northern 
cathedrals  is  often  inspiring,  because  the  people  gather  around 
the  pulpit  with  seeming  eagerness,  many  of  them  standing, 
while  the  audience  stretches  out  into  dim  aisles  beyond.  The 
black-clad  interpreter  by  my  side  in  the  high  ruffed  collar  of 
the  state  church  of  Norway,  also  added  another  touch  of  pic- 
turesqueness. 

After  some  large  Christian  Endeavor  meetings  in  Berlin, 
Leipsic,  and  Augsburg,  I  returned  to  Munich,  where  my  wife 
and  son  had  remained  while  I  journeyed  to  the  north,  and 
we  soon  started  in  the  opposite  direction  for  a  southerly  journey 
down  the  Dalmatian  coast,  which  took  us  to  Montenegro, 
Corfu,  Greece,  and  Turkey.  We  went  by  way  of  Innsbruck, 
Botzen,  and  Riva,  thence  to  Verona  and  Venice,  across  to 
Trieste,  and  down  the  beautiful  island-sheltered  coast  of  Dal- 
matia,  which  is  well  worth  more  detailed  description  in  another 
chapter. 


Chapter  XXVIII 
Years   i  905-1 906 

HITHER    AND    YON 

IN     LOVELY     DALMATIA MONTENEGRO,     COUNTRY     OF     THE 

BLACK    MOUNTAINS CORFU  THE    BALKAN    STATES 

HUNGARY GREAT    BRITAIN  GENEVA,    I906. 

WOULD  advise  any  of  my  friends  who  de- 
sire a  picturesque  and  somewhat  unusual  trip 
to  take  the  same  journey  down  the  coast  of 
Dalmatia  which  we  enjoyed  as  we  travelled  to 
Montenegro.  The  Austrian  Lloyd  steamers 
at  that  time  made  frequent  trips  along 
the  whole  Dalmatian  coast,  keeping  almost  entirely  behind  the 
barrier  of  islands  which,  on  that  side  of  the  Adriatic,  guard 
the  shore,  so  that  it  is  largely  a  land-locked  voyage  on  waters 
as  smooth  as  an  inland  river. 

Tola  was  one  of  the  first  stops  after  leaving  Trieste,  and 
here  the  Austro-Hungarian  navy  had  its  chief  port.  During 
the  years  of  the  great  war  she  sent  out  from  here  her  sub- 
marines to  prey  upon  the  commerce  of  her  enemies  in  the 
Adriatic  and  the  Mediterranean. 

But  we  were  much  more  interested  in  the  wonderful  an- 
tiquities on  the  shore  than  in  the  gray  and  menacing  iron-clads. 
Here  is  a  vast  colosseum,  almost  as  large  as  its  more  famous 
brother  in  Rome,  and  in  a  far  better  state  of  preservation,  at 
least  so  far  as  the  outside  of  the  tremendous  arena  is  con- 
cerned. Here,  too,  are  an  exquisite  Roman  temple,  and  other 
antiquities  of  scarcely  less  interest. 

Spalato,  farther  down  the  coast,  contains  the  mighty  palace 

312 


iCz»i-- 


'<^ 


-««>:.' 


:::9^- 


A  Roman  Temple  of  Pola 
Built  shortly  before  the  Christian  Era.     Still  in  perfect  preservation. 


HITHER    AND    YON  315 

of  the  persecuting  Emperor,  Diocletian,  who  built  his  most 
magnificent  residence,  not  in  Rome,  but  in  this,  his  birthplace, 
on  the  Adriatic.  This,  too,  is  well  preserved,  after  all  these 
centuries,  and  is  large  enough  to  contain  within  its  walls  a 
very  considerable  town.  In  fact  most  of  the  inhabitants  of 
modern  Spalato  seem  to  live  within  the  precincts  of  the  old 
palace. 

Still  farther  down  the  coast  are  the  interesting  towns  of 
Zara  and  Ragusa.  The  latter  is  a  town  which  has  a  memorable 
history  as  the  capital  of  a  little  republic  that  maintained  its 
independence  for  many  centuries.  Ragusa  is  now  a  somewhat 
popular  summer  resort,  and  boasts  a  fashionable  and  expensive 
hotel.  At  several  other  towns  the  steamer  stops  for  a  few 
hours,  giving  us  a  glimpse  of  ancient  ruins  and  primitive 
modern  inhabitants,  until  at  last  it  winds  by  many  a  tortuous 
curve  through  the  Gulf  of  Cattaro  to  the  seaport  of  Cattaro, 
the  last  stop  on  the  Dalmatian  coast. 

I  would  also  advise  my  readers,  if  they  ever  take  this  jour- 
ney, to  go  by  one  of  the  slow  freight  steamers  which  stop  at 
every  port.  These  steamers  have  sufficiently  comfortable  ac- 
commodations and  afford  one  far  more  intimate  glimpses  of  the 
country  and  the  people  than  the  more  popular  express  line  of 
boats. 

The  town  of  Cattaro  was  and  probably  is  an  ill-condi- 
tioned, dirty,  run-down  little  place,  inhabited  by  a  mixture  of 
many  races  who  found  here  no  "  melting-pot,"  for  Dalmatians 
and  Albanians,  Austrians  and  Hungarians,  Croats,  Slavonians, 
and  Montenegrins,  though  they  frequently  touched  elbows 
on  the  street,  had  no  love  one  for  another. 

A  score  of  horses  whose  gaunt  ribs  proclaimed  the  parsimony 
or  poverty  of  their  masters,  were  hitched  to  ramshackle  vic- 
torias near  the  wharf  when  we  arrived,  while  their  drivers  were 
all  clamoring  to  take  us  up  the  Black  Mountains  to  Cetinje, 
then  the  little  capital  of  Montenegro. 

We  chose  the  most  promising  of  them,  but  many  times,  as 


-^16  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

we  surmounted  the  steep  mountain  side,  the  harness  gave  way, 
and  had  to  be  mended  with  the  rope  and  strings  with  which 
the  driver  had  provided  himself,  evidently  counting  on  such 
catastrophes. 

But  poor  as  was  our  vehicle  and  uncomfortable  as  was  the 
journey  in  some  respects,  we  were  well  repaid  by  the  magnifi- 
cent scenery  which  every  turn  of  the  road  presented  to  our 
enraptured  view.  As  one  looks  up  the  mountain  from  the 
streets  of  Cattaro,  it  seems  impossible  for  horse  or  man  to  climb 
it.  A  multitude  of  narrow  zigzags,  looking  like  so  many  chalk 
marks  on  a  black  slate,  show  us  from  below  the  windings  of 

the  road. 

I  cannot  speak  for  conditions  at  the  present  time,  but  the 
road  had  been  well  built  with  much  labor  and  engineering 
skill,  and  was  kept  in  excellent  repair,  at  least  as  far  as  the 
Montenegrin  border.  There,  however,  it  degenerated,  for  the 
little  kingdom  of  the  Black  Mountain  had  precious  few  dollars 
to  spend  on  road-making.  The  many  zigzags  added  to  the 
joy  of  the  ride,  for  they  afforded  us  every  minute  new  glimpses 
of  the  panorama  stretching  out  below  j  the  windings  of  the 
silvery  Gulf  of  Cattaro,  the  islands  that  stud  the  channel,  and 
the  further  shores  as  well  as  the  fortifications  that  defend 
the  Gulf  and  harbor  upon  which  we  could  almost  seem  to 
drop  a  stone  from  the  heights  that  we  were  climbing. 

At  last  the  top  of  the  first  mountain  was  reached,  the  line  be- 
tween Austria  and  Montenegro  was  crossed,  and  we  zigzagged 
down  on  the  other  side  into  a  considerable  valley  where  is 
situated  the  half-way  town  of  Niegosh,  where  the  then  Czar  of 
Montenegro  was  born  and  where  he  had  a  very  modest  little 
summer  home.  The  houses  of  the  people,  for  the  most  part, 
are  exceedingly  primitive,  built  of  stone,  often  with  no  win-  j 
dows,  and  boasting  little  and  rude  furniture.  ; 

One  such  house  that  we  visited,  however,  rejoiced  in  a  Singer 
sewing-machine,  of  which  the  good  mother  seemed  inordinately 
proud.    Mr.  Singer  and  his  sewing-machine  have  been  among 


HITHER    AND    YO^  317 

the  great  civilizing  factors  of  the  world,  for  there  is  no  re- 
motest corner  of  Europe,  or  any  other  land,  which  I  have 
visited,  where  the  music  of  his  humble  but  useful  instrument 
is  not  heard. 

The  sterility  of  all  this  country  is  almost  beyond  belief.  In 
every  little  crevice  of  the  rocks  to  which  soil  can  be  carried, 
something  green  is  planted.  A  tract  of  arable  soil  as  big  as  a 
sheet  forms  quite  a  garden.  Everywhere  the  rugged,  broken 
chaos  of  rocks  fills  one  with  a  sense  of  awe,  and  at  the  same 
time  admiration  for  the  plucky  mountaineers  who  somehow 
manage  to  wring  a  living  from  inhospitable  nature. 

The  men  and  women  are  fine  specimens  of  humanity 3  the 
men  especially  are  stalwart,  tall  and  handsome,  their  good 
looks  being  set  off  by  their  picturesque  embroidered  vests  and 
their  little  round  hats.  On  the  top  of  each  was  woven  an  H, 
the  equivalent  for  N  in  their  language,  which  showed  their 
allegiance  to  their  beloved  Prince  Nicholas,  as  he  was  called 
when  we  were  there.  He  afterwards  proclaimed  himself  Czar 
of  the  Montenegrins,  and  he  died  while  an  exile,  under  the 
protection  of  his  son-in-law.  King  Emanuel  of  Italy.  I  regret 
that  history  does  not  seem  to  give  him  so  high  a  place,  as  a  man 
or  a  patriot,  as  I  supposed  he  deserved,  when  I  visited  his 
little  kingdom. 

It  grew  dark  before  we  had  surmounted  another  range  of 
hills  and  began  to  descend  toward  the  plain,  said  to  be  the 
bed  of  an  old  lake,  on  which  stands  Cetinje,  the  capital.  As  we 
descended  the  dark  mountain,  made  blacker  still  by  a  star- 
less night,  we  could  see  the  twinkling  lights  of  Cetinje,  and 
were  glad  enough  to  arrive  at  its  one  hotel,  whose  prices  alone 
substantiated  its  claim  to  being  "  Grand  "  and  "  first-class." 

Nearly  opposite  the  hotel  stands  the  by-no-means  palatial 
palace  of  the  Czar,  and  though  I  did  not  see  him  holding  court, 
I  was  told  that  he  often  sat  under  a  spreading  oak  in  true 
patriarchal  fashion  and  dispensed  justice  to  his  faithful  sub- 
jects, who  brought  their  disputes  before  him  for  adjudication. 


3l8  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

There  was  little  to  detain  us  in  Cetinje,  for  it  is  simply  a 
large,  straggling  village,  whose  most  spacious  and  ornate  build- 
ing was  that  of  the  Russian  embassy. 

Alas  for  the  little  kingdom  of  Montenegro!  Overrun  by  its 
stronger  neighbors,  blotted  off  the  face  of  the  earth  as  an  in- 
dependent kingdom  after  its  long  struggle  of  a  thousand  years 
to  maintain  its  independence  against  Turk  and  Christian  alike, 
it  is  now  unwillingly  incorporated  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Serbs, 
Croats,  and  Slovenes. 

On  our  further  journey,  while  waiting  for  our  steamer  to 
sail  from  Cattaro  for  Corfu,  a  curious  phenomenon  occurred. 
As  I  was  writing  on  the  steamer's  deck,  I  noticed  that  my  paper 
became  covered  with  an  impalpable  white  grit.  I  would  brush 
it  off,  and  in  a  few  moments  more,  the  same  fine  white  ash 
covered  the  paper  again.  I  could  not  account  for  it,  until  I 
learned,  several  days  afterwards,  of  the  tremendous  eruption 
of  Mt.  Vesuvius,  from  whose  crater  this  fine  dust  had  been 
blown  for  hundreds  of  miles,  until  it  dropped  on  the  deck  of 
the  little  steamer  in  the  harbor  of  Cattaro,  and  perhaps  was 
carried  still  farther  over  the  black  mountains  of  Montenegro. 

Corfu  is  another  tropical  Paradise  where  brilliant  flowers 
and  delicious  fruits  abound,  and  where  many  Europeans  spend 
their  holidays.  It  so  happened  that  the  English  fleet,  while  we 
were  on  the  island,  made  its  rendezvous  at  Corfu's  principal 
harbor.  On  one  of  the  ships  were  King  Edward  and  Queen 
Alexandra,  who  had  come  thus  far  to  meet  their  son,  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  and  his  wife,  on  their  return  from  India.  King 
George  of  Greece  had  come  to  Corfu  to  meet  their  Majesties, 
and  a  great  reception  was  given  them. 

All  the  royalties  rode  by  our  hotel  in  state,  close  under  our 
windows,  and  one  could  not  help  thinking  how  easy  it  would 
be,  were  any  one  so  ill  disposed,  to  drop  a  bomb  into  the  royal 
carriages,  or  to  conceal  an  infernal  machine  in  one  of  the  many 
bouquets  which  were  thrown  at  the  distinguished  guests  as  they 
drove  through  the  streets.     The  King  of  Greece  looked  very 


HITHER    AND    YON  319 

apprehensive  as  he  scanned  the  throng  on  either  side  of  the 
roadway,  and  I  imagine  that  the  same  thought  was  in  his  mind, 
and  that  he  was  exceedingly  glad  when  he  had  convoyed  his 
regal  visitors  back  to  their  ship  and  seen  them  safely  aboard 
a  British  iron-clad.  Such  is  one  of  the  penalties  of  royalty! 
"To  be  a  king  is  a  dangerous  job,"  as  one  of  them  recently 
remarked,  a  remark  which  the  late  war  underscored  many  times 
over. 

At  night  all  the  ships  of  the  fleet  were  brilliantly  illuminated 
with  electric  lights  stretched  around  the  decks,  and  up  the  masts 
and  spars  to  the  topmost  peak,  a  truly  magnificent  spectacle. 

We  did  not  delay  long  in  Athens  though  it  was  a  most  inter- 
esting time  to  visit  the  ancient  capital,  for  half  the  royalties  of 
Europe  had  assembled  to  witness  the  Olympic  Games,  about  to 
take  place  in  the  historic  stadium,  which  had  lately  been  re- 
seated and  embellished  in  pure  white  marble  by  M.  Averoff, 
a  wealthy  Greek  philanthropist.  Athletes  as  well  as  princes 
were  gathering  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  every  day 
we  could  see  the  contestants  in  the  games  practising  in  this 
truly  magnificent  stadium.  More  than  two  millenniums  ago 
this  stadium  was  built  by  the  orator  and  statesman  Lycurgus. 
Two  hundred  years  later  it  was  renewed  in  solid  marble  from 
Mt.  Pentelicus,  "  almost  exhausting  its  quarries,"  we  are  toldj 
then  for  centuries  it  was  unused,  covered  with  debris,  its  site 
almost  forgotten  until  recently  rebuilt,  as  I  have  said,  in  more 
than  its  original  glory. 

Ninety  thousand  people  can  gather  on  those  glistening  mar- 
ble seats.  Afterwards,  when  spending  some  months  in  Athens, 
while  writing  a  book  about  the  cities  of  St.  Paul,  I  was  inter- 
ested to  remember  that  the  great  apostle  doubtless  visited  this 
stadium,  perhaps  frequently,  and  that  here  was  suggested  to 
him  many  of  the  athletic  similes  of  which  he  was  so  fondj  the 
runners  in  the  race,  the  boxers  who  did  not  beat  the  air,  the 
discus  throwers,  and  the  athletes  who  "  kept  under  "  the  body. 

Unfortunately   my   engagements   compelled   me   to   leave 


320  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Athens  the  very  day  before  the  games  began,  but  it  was  most 
satisfactory  to  learn  afterwards  that  the  American  athletes  ac- 
quitted themselves  so  well  in  every  respect,  winning  a  large 
number  of  the  events. 

"  Good  luck  to  you,  boys,"  I  said  to  a  group  of  them  as  I 
was  about  to  leave,  "  I  hope  you'll  win!  " 

"  Oh,  we  wish  you  could  stay  and  root  for  us,"  answered  the 
spokesman 3  "  there  are  so  few  Americans  here."  I,  too,  wished 
I  could  stay  and  "  root  "  for  them,  but  other  duties  called  us 
on,  and  we  sailed  for  Smyrna. 

Here,  as  in  many  other  places  in  the  Near  East,  Americans 
have  made  themselves  felt  most  beneficently  by  their  educa- 
tional institutions.  Here  is  the  International  Institute,  a  great 
college,  ably  presided  over  by  Dr.  McLachlan.  Here,  too,  is^a 
well-equipped  Girls'  College,  under  the  care  of  the  Women's 
Board  of  Missions,  and  here  are  two  or  three  Protestant 
churches  under  the  care  of  American  missionaries. 

The  colleges  are  of  a  character  similar  to  Robert  College  in. 
Constantinople,  the  College  for  Girls  in  the  same  city,  and  the 
American  University  in  Beirut.  There  are  others  in  the  in- 
terior of  Turkey  of  a  grade  almost  as  high.  No  institutions 
in  the  world  are  more  useful,  and  of  none  have  Americans 
greater  reason  to  be  proud.  It  has  always  been  a  great  pleas- 
ure to  address  the  students  of  these  colleges,  as  I  have  on 
several  occasions,  for  one  feels  that,  if  he  ever  should  speak  a 
word  "  in  season,"  it  is  then,  since  he  has  before  him  the  future 
leaders  of  half  a  dozen  races  of  the  Near  East.  As  I  correct 
the  proofs  of  these  pages  I  have  to  record  that  the  Girls' 
Institute  of  Smyrna  has  been  burned,  the  International  Insti- 
tute threatened,  and  the  theological,  and  other  schools  of  the 
interior  suspended,  because  of  the  hostility  of  the  ruthless 
Turk,  after  his  victory  over  the  Greeks  in  September,  1922. 

The  return  journey  to  western  Europe  has  been  of  much 
interest  in  retrospect,  as  it  took  us  again  through  the  Balkan 
states  and  Hungary,  countries  on  which  the  eyes  of  the  world 


HITHER    AND    YON  321 

have  been  centred  since  the  great  war  for  the  freedom  of  the 
small  nations  began. 

Philippopolis  in  Bulgaria  is  an  interesting  old  Bulgarian 
town  with  a  long  history.  Its  quaint  buildings  lean  over  to 
shake  hands  with  one  another  across  narrow  streets.  It  was 
then  a  centre  of  a  flourishing  American  mission. 

Sofia,  the  raw  capital  of  Bulgaria,  was  a  straggling  country 
city.  I  remember  a  pathetic  attempt  at  an  art  gallery  which  I 
visited,  where  a  few  specimens  of  Bulgarian  pictures  and 
statuary  were  exhibited.  Nevertheless  such  a  gallery  showed 
the  aspirations  of  a  people  that  had  just  thrown  off  the  Turkish 
yoke,  and  whose  hopes  were  all  for  a  national  life  of  their 
own.  Alas,  that  they  were  misled  by  crafty  King  Ferdinand 
in  the  World  War,  and  cast  in  their  lot  against  their  own  kins- 
folk, the  Slavs. 

After  the  meetings  in  Sofia  and  Philippopolis  we  next  spent 
a  few  days  in  Hungary,  visiting  Budapest  and  Pecs,  a  large 
number  of  Endeavorers  greeting  us  in  each  city.  Pecs  is  of 
peculiar  interest  because  it  was  long  on  the  border-line  be- 
tween Mohammedanism  and  Christianity.  Indeed  the  Mos- 
lems possessed  the  city  for  centuries,  as  two  or  three  mosques, 
now  converted  into  Christian  churches,  testify,  the  tall  min- 
arets taking  the  place  of  the  conventional  steeple. 

However  we  may  feel  about  the  acts  of  Hungary  in  the 
great  war,  we  must  remember  that  for  years  and  years  she 
was  the  chief  bulwark  of  Christianity,  and  rolled  back  over  and 
over  again,  at  the  cost  of  vast  numbers  of  men  and  vast  treas- 
ure, the  hordes  of  Moslems. 

Budapest,  which  I  think  I  have  before  characterized  as,  in 
my  opinion,  one  of  the  two  or  three  most  beautiful  cities  in 
Europe,  had  long  been  a  centre  of  Christian  Endeavor  activity. 
Here  the  Endeavorers  supported  with  the  help  of  other  friends, 
a  well-equipped  hospital,  situated  in  beautiful  grounds,  and 
conducted  on  distinctly  Christian  principles. 

Soon  after  the  meetings  in  Hungary,  Mrs.  Clark,  with  our 


322  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

youngest  son  and  the  daughter  of  a  missionary  who  had  come 
with  us  from  Smyrna,  sailed  for  America  from  Genoa,  while 
I  remained  behind  for  three  months  to  attend  various  meetings 
in  Europe,  and  especially  to  prepare  for  the  third  World's 
Christian  Endeavor  Convention  which  was  scheduled  to  be  held 
in  Geneva  in  the  early  days  of  August. 

Before  that  event  my  diary  records  some  great  meetings, 
among  them  one  in  the  City  Temple  of  London,  presided  over 
by  that  delightful  but  erratic  theological  comet,  Rev.  R.  J. 
Campbell,  also  a  very  successful  British  National  Convention 
in  Leeds,  and  many  other  meetings,  in  Nottingham,  Swindon, 
Leicester,  Wisbech,  Huddersfield,  Sheffield,  Manchester,  Ox- 
ford, etc. 

At  this  time  I  had  become  much  interested  in  Esperanto,  and 
had  large  hopes  that  it  might  become  a  long-hoped-for  uni- 
versal language,  I  advocated  it  on  the  platform  and  in  print, 
and  for  many  months  an  Esperanto  department  was  conducted 
in  The  Christian  Endeavor  World.  In  Liverpool  I  attended 
a  meeting  of  a  hundred  Endeavorers  who  were  studying  Es- 
peranto, and  became  proficient  enough  in  the  language  to  write 
an  occasional  home  letter  in  it. 

I  still  believe  that  it  might  be  a  great  unifying  force  of  im- 
mense value  to  the  world,  but  unless  it  is  taught  in  the  public 
schools  in  every  land,  and  practically  made  compulsory  as  the 
one  secondary  language,  while  all  must  of  course,  know  their 
own,  I  now  see  little  hope  of  great  usefulness  from  it.  It  is 
exceedingly  easy  to  learn,  especially  if  one  has  a  rudimentary 
knowledge  of  Latin,  but  unfortunately  it  is  quite  as  easy  to 
forget. 

Much  of  my  time  during  the  early  summer  of  1906  was 
spent  in  preparing  the  programme,  and  obtaining  speakers  for 
the  World's  Endeavor  convention  in  Geneva.  My  part  in 
these  preparations  I  accomplished  largely  .while  staying  at 
Scheveningen,  Bonn,  Interlaken,  and  Geneva. 

Some  of  the  difficulties  attending  such  a  gathering  can  be 


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HITHER    AND    YON  325 

imagined  from  the  fact  that  people  speaking  in  their  native 
tongues  thirty  different  languages  participated  in  the  meet- 
ings. One  part  of  the  programme  was  printed  in  no  less  than 
twelve  languages,  namely  French,  German,  English,  Swedish, 
Norwegian,  Finnish,  Lettish,  Italian,  Spanish,  Hungarian, 
Marathi,  and  Esperanto. 

However  the  task  was  at  last  accomplished,  and  the  conven- 
tion was  carried  through  successfully  and  with  great  blessing 
to  the  thousands  who  were  in  attendance.  The  three  princi- 
pal languages  spoken  were  French,  German,  and  English,  large 
halls  being  assigned  to  each  language.  A  great  united  praise 
service,  and  a  united  consecration  meeting  were  held,  and  it 
is  thrilling  even  in  memory  to  recall  the  responses  of  those 
who  spoke  a  score  and  a  half  of  languages,  each  group  telling  in 
their  own  tongue  of  their  purpose  to  serve  the  one  Lord  and 
Master,  Jesus  Christ. 

No  less  moving  was  it  to  hear  the  twenty-third  Psalm  re- 
peated in  unison,  the  thirty  languages  blending  in  one,  and 
again  the  prayer,  "  Our  Father,"  to  the  one  God  who  hears  and 
answers  His  children  whatever  tongue  they  speak. 

In  the  historic  cathedral  of  St.  Pierre  where  Calvin  thun- 
dered and  pleaded  in  days  of  yore,  I  was  asked  to  preach  on 
convention  Sunday,  taking  the  life  of  the  great  reformer  for 
my  subject.  I  was  later  honored  by  a  request  for  a  copy  of 
this  sermon  for  one  of  the  documents  to  be  placed  in  the 
corner  stone  of  a  monument  erected  at  the  quadri-centennial 
of  the  birth  of  the  great  Genevan. 

The  convention  being  over,  nothing  detained  me  from  the 
speediest  possible  return  to  America  via  Liverpool. 

Thus  ended  a  busy  and  exceedingly  varied  eleven  months, 
spent  in  a  score  of  the  countries  of  Europe  and  nearer  Asia. 


Chapter  XXIX 
Years  i 906-1 907 

FROM    PEACEFUL    LAKE    MOHONK    TO    DIS- 
TRACTED   JAMAICA 

THE    SMILEY     BROTHERS CORNELL    UNIVERSITY ANDREW 

D.  WHITE A  TERRIBLE  EARTHQUAKE A  RUINED  CITY 

THE    CANAL    ZONE COLONEL    GORGAS THE    PRES- 
IDENT OF  PANAMA. 


FTER  returning  from  Europe,  the  later 
months  of  1906  and  the  earlier  weeks  of 
1907  were  spent  in  America,  with  nominal 
headquarters  at  our  home  in  Auburndale, 
though  many  engagements  east  and  west 
made  the  home-life  somewhat  fragmentary. 
Among  these  engagements  was  one  at  Lake  Mohonk  where 
for  a  number  of  seasons  Mrs.  Clark  and  I  were  guests  of  the 
Smiley  brothers,  either  at  the  so-called  "  peace  conference  "  in 
the  spring,  or  the  "  Conference  for  Indians  and  Other  Depen- 
dent Races,"  in  the  fall. 

These  were  notable  meetings,  which  were  interrupted  by  the 
great  war,  but  which  admirably  fulfilled  their  purpose,  that 
of  calling  the  attention  of  leading  men,  and  through  them  of 
the  whole  country,  to  these  great  subjects.  In  those  days  we 
fondly  hoped  that  the  last  great  war  had  been  fought,  and 
that  kings  and  politicians  could  never  be  so  insensate  as  to 
plunge  their  people  into  such  a  hellish  struggle  as  that  which 
began  in  19 14.  Plans  for  a  "  United  States  of  the  World," 
for  a  "  World  Court,"  and  all  the  attendant  blessings  that 
would  flow  from  universal  peace  were  discussed.    Let  us  not 

326 


FROM    LAKE    MOHONK    TO    DISTRACTED    JAMAICA  327 

say  that  they  were  discussed  in  vain,  for  we  may  still  hope 
that  the  brightest  visions  ever  cherished  at  Lake  Mohonk  will 
yet  be  realized. 

The  autumn  conference  was  equally  valuable  in  stirring  the 
consciences  of  the  people  to  the  wrongs  that  have  been  done 
to  the  Indians,  and  the  need  for  practising  the  teachings  of 
Christianity  toward  all  the  "  dependent  races,"  the  Filipinos 
figuring  largely  under  that  euphemism. 

All  the  surroundings  of  Lake  Mohonk  tended  to  make  these 
conferences  memorable  j  the  glorious  scenery  from  the  moun- 
tain top  where  the  hotel  is  built;  the  charming  intellectual  and 
social  atmosphere  which  the  guests  found  there  and  also 
brought  with  themj  the  distinctively  religious  thought  with 
which  each  day  began  in  the  public  devotions  of  the  great  hotel 
family j  and  above  all  the  personality  of  the  Smiley  brothers, 
those  wonderful  "  Cheeryble  Twins,"  who  radiated  serenity 
and  peace  wherever  they  went.  Their  hand-grasp  as  the  guests 
arrived  was  a  benediction,  and  whenever  the  waters  of  discus- 
sion were  liable  to  become  troubled,  as  sometimes  they  were, 
for  free  discussion  v/as  allowed  and  opinions  sometimes 
sharply  clashed,  their  words  of  Quaker  wisdom  were  always 
the  healing  oil  of  controversy.  When  the  older  brothers  were 
translated  to  the  eternal  haven  of  perfect  peace,  the  meetings 
were  carried  on  by  the  younger  brother,  Daniel  and  his  gracious 
wife,  in  the  same  spirit  and  with  the  same  success. 

I  remember  that  on  this  or  some  similar  occasion  I  wrote  a 
magazine  article  claiming  that  Lake  Mohonk  was  the  most 
beautiful  spot  in  the  world.  Opinions  of  course  may  differ, 
but  as  I  think  of  the  natural  beauties  of  the  place,  and  the  in- 
definable spirit  of  hospitality  and  moral  and  spiritual  elevation, 
I  am  still  unwilling  to  recede  from  the  superlatives  of  that 
article. 

A  iweek  at  Cornell  University,  a  week  of  eight  days,  by  the 
way  (for  preaching  in  Sage  Chapel  on  two  Sundays  was  al- 
ways included  in  the  engagement),  was  also  one  of  the  events 


328  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

of  this  fall  of  which  I  am  writing,  as  it  was  every  year  either  in 
the  fall  or  spring  for  fifteen  or  twenty  consecutive  years.  With 
each  visit  I  found  that  the  university  had  expanded  in  numbers 
and  in  equipment,  and  ■  I  regard  it  as  one  of  the  greatest 
democratic  institutions  of  America. 

Ezra  Cornell  founded  the  university  on  the  theory  that  no 
branch  of  human  learning  was  inferior  to  any  other j  that  to 
study  mechanics  and  the  composition  of  the  soil  and  the  diseases 
of  cattle  was  as  important,  as  honorable,  and  as  necessary  as  to 
study  the  Greek  Dative,  or  the  Differential  Calculus.  That 
spirit  still  pervades  the  university,  and  the  students  of  the 
agricultural  college  are  not  looked  down  upon  as  "  Bucolics  " 
or  "  Boeotians  "  by  the  classical  students,  because  they  give 
their  attention  more  to  the  composition  of  fertilizers  than  to 
the  composition  of  Latin  poems. 

Andrew  D.  White,  who  was  one  of  the  greatest  educators 
and  diplomats  whom  America  has  ever  produced,  started  the 
university  on  its  shining  way,  and  was  a  resident  on  the  college 
hill  during  most  of  the  years  that  I  served  as  a  university 
preacher.  He  was  always  in  the  chapel  for  the  Sunday  services. 
His  fund  of  rich  experiences  as  ambassador  to  Russia  and 
Germany,  as  well  as  his  earlier  struggles  with  New  York 
politicians  when  the  university  was  being  founded,  made  a  call 
upon  him  an  event  of  one's  life.  I  know  of  no  American 
autobiography  more  charming  for  its  simple  recital  of  the 
experiences  of  a  rich,  varied,  and  useful  life  than  his. 

Dr.  Jacob  J.  Schurman,  who  succeeded  him,  and  for  many 
years  administered  the  university,  was  a  worthy  successor,  one 
of  the  great  college  presidents  of  the  country  who  thor- 
oughly believed  in  and  carried  out  the  principles  of  Ezra 
Cornell,  and  who  has  served  his  country  in  important  positions 
as  president  of  the  first  Philippine  Commission,  and  as  am- 
bassador to  Greece,  where  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  him 
on  one  of  my  visits  to  Athens. 

On  a  bitterly  cold  January  night  In  1 907,  with  my  daughter. 


FROM    LAKE    MOHONK    TO    DISTRACTED   JAMAICA  329 

Maude  Williston,  I  left  Auburndale  for  a  six  months'  journey 
to  the  South  American  republics,  and  incidentally  to  Jamaica 
and  the  Canal  Zone  on  the  way  thither,  and  to  Europe  on  the 
way  home.  In  those  days  the  quickest  and  most  comfortable 
route  from  South  America  to  North  America  was  by  way  of 
Lisbon  and  Liverpool,  a  waste  of  time  and  money,  which  like 
many  other  things  the  World  War  has  already  corrected. 

On  account  of  the  age  and  illness  of  my  adopted  mother, 
Mrs.  Clark  was  unable  to  accompany  me  on  this  journey  as  so 
often  before,  and  I  was  fortunate  to  have  a  daughter  to  be  my 
delightful  guardian,  travelling  companion,  and  secretary. 

Three  days  before  we  left  America,  we  heard  that  Kingston, 
Jamaica,  which  was  to  be  our  first  port  of  call,  was  destroyed 
by  an  earthquake.  Our  ship  carried  provisions  and  hospital 
supplies  for  the  wounded,  and  I  was  bidden  to  carry  the  affec- 
tionate greetings  and  sympathy  of  American  Christians. 

We  found  the  conditions  in  Kingston,  where  we  arrived  five 
days  after  sailing  from  New  York,  even  worse  than  we  had 
expected.  Scarcely  one  stone,  or  to  speak  more  accurately, 
one  brick,  was  left  upon  another.  Many  bodies  were  still 
buried  under  the  ruins  among  which  relatives  and  friends  were 
frantically  searching,  hoping  they  might  find  some  spark  of 
life  among  those  who  were  caught  in  these  death  traps.  Walls 
were  still  tottering,  and  occasionally,  because  of  earth  tremors, 
were  toppling  over.  A  large  cornice  of  the  Constant  Springs 
Hotel,  where  we  took  refuge,  though  it  was  five  miles  out  of 
the  city,  fell  the  first  night  we  were  there.  Every  now  and 
then  we  felt  the  earth  quake,  and  it  can  be  imagined  that  those 
were  anxious  days  for  visitors,  as  well  as  dreadful  days  for 
the  people  of  Kingston,  many  of  whom  had  lost  dear  friends 
and  relatives,  as  well  as  all  their  property.  There  was  com- 
paratively little  insurance,  and  it  was  uncertain  whether  even 
that  could  be  collected.  Archdeacon  Nuttall  of  the  Church 
of  England  was  the  general  of  the  occasion,  and  received  with 
gratitude  the  assurance  of  America's  sympathy  and  support. 


330  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

The  English  Governor  of  the  island,  whose  name  I  have 
forgotten,  had  treated  in  a  very  gruff  and  discourteous  way 
the  commander  of  the  American  man-of-war  who  had  immedi- 


A  Church  in  Devasted  Kingston 


ately  rushed  his  ship  to  the  scene  of  the  disaster  with  what 
provisions  and  surgical  appliances  he  could  command.  He 
was  snubbed  by  the  Governor,  and  was  forbidden  to  send  a 


FROM    LAKE    MOHONK    TO    DISTRACTED    JAMAICA  33 1 

relief  party  ashore,  an  act  which  created  great  indignation  both 
in  Jamaica  and  America, 

News  had  come  of  this  action  on  the  day  we  sailed  from  New 
York,  and  I  remember  the  hot  indignation  of  Dr.  Grenfell,  the 
saint  of  Labrador,  whom  I  met  in  the  private  office  of  the 
publisher,  Mr.  Fleming  H.  Re  veil.  Grenfell  seemed  to  want 
to  take  not  a  whip  of  small  cords,  but  a  good  strong  horsewhip 
and  lash  some  sense  into  the  thick  head  of  his  stupid  and  self- 
important  compatriot,  the  Governor  of  Jamaica.  Needless  to 
say,  the  said  Governor  was  soon  relieved  of  the  cares  of  office. 

Long,  long  rows  of  white  cots  had  been  set  up  in  the  im- 
provised hospitals  in  Kingston  and  vicinity,  and  everything 
possible  was  done  by  the  doctors,  white  and  colored,  and  by 
the  surgeons  from  the  United  States  men-of-war,  to  relieve 
the  dreadful  suffering.  Thousands  of  people  were  encamped 
in  the  open  spaces,  some  under  shelters  of  boughs  and  frag- 
ments of  canvas,  where  tents  could  not  be  obtained.  No  church 
had  escaped  the  earthquake,  and  I  preached  to  a  large  congre- 
gation on  the  lawn  of  the  Congregational  Church,  which  of 
course  had  been  wrecked,  as  well  as  the  manse  near  by,  though 
one  or  two  rooms  in  the  pastor's  house  were  still  habitable. 

The  ruin  extended  far  and  wide  for  many  miles  around 
Kingston,  but  in  most  parts  of  the  island  comparatively  little 
damage  had  been  done,  and  I  was  able  to  hold  the  scheduled 
Christian  Endeavor  meetings  which  had  been  planned  in  other 
towns,  like  Brownstown,  Montego  Bay,  Port  Antonio,  Span- 
ishtown,  and  others.  Indeed  in  some  respects  the  meetings 
were  more  successful  than  they  might  have  been  ordinarily,  for 
the  colored  people  had  been  greatly  frightened  by  the  earth- 
quake, and  were  in  an  unusually  religious  mood. 

A  jeweller  told  me  that  his  business  had  been  greatly  in- 
creased by  the  earthquake.  It  may  seem  a  singular  statement, 
until  it  is  explained  that  wedding  rings  had  come  to  be  in  great 
demand  by  conscience-striken  couples  who  had  lived  together 
for  many  years  without  the  rites  of  holy  matrimony.     The 


332  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

earthquake  convinced  them  of  their  sins,  and  the  whole  stock 
of  wedding  rings  in  the  island,  I  am  told,  was  cleaned  out  in  a 
few  days. 

When  the  schedule  of  meetings  in  Jamaica  had  been  finished 
we  sailed  for  the  Canal  Zone  with  a  great  crowd  of  dusky  deck 
passengers  who  were  going  to  work  on  the  Canal,  for  Jamaica, 
with  its  600,000  black  and  colored  people  (there  is  a  fine  dis- 
tinction in  these  terms),  furnished  almost  unlimited  man 
power  for  the  digging  of  the  big  ditch. 

A  cordial  welcome  awaited  us  in  Colon  from  Presbyterians, 
Congregationalists,  and  Church  of  England  people.  Several 
meetings  had  been  arranged  in  Colon,  Panama,  and  one  or  two 
other  points  along  the  Canal.  One  of  these  was  in  Christ 
Church  in  Colon  at  which  Colonel  Gorgas,  America's  great 
sanitary  engineer,  presided.  No  man  in  the  whole  Zone  was 
so  beloved  as  the  colonel-doctor.  He  had  just  cleaned  up 
Cuba,  banishing  the  "  Yellow  Jack  "  forever  from  that  fair 
island,  and  had  already  accomplished  the  same  result  for  the 
Canal  Zone.  Moreover  he  had  attacked  the  still  more  insidi- 
ous though  less  fatal  disease,  malaria,  and  had  nearly  con- 
quered this  pest  too,  and  had  thus  made  the  building  of  the 
Canal  possible. 

The  French  had  been  conquered  in  their  previous  efforts  to 
build  the  Canal,  not  by  the  difficulties  of  the  Culebra  Cut,  or 
by  their  insufficient  machinery,  but  by  the  insignificant  and 
pestiferous  mosquito.  Colonel  Gorgas  had  found  that  the 
mosquito  must  be  routed,  or  the  United  States  government 
would  be.  By  an  extensive  system  of  drainage  j  by  screening 
every  house  and  public  building  in  the  Zonej  by  a  liberal  use 
of  kerosene  on  all  stagnant  watery  by  carrying  out  a  thorough 
inspection  of  every  private  house  to  see  that  not  even  a  cupful 
of  water  was  left  in  the  open  in  which  a  mosquito  might  breed, 
the  work  was  accomplished,  the  Canal  was  made  possible,  and 
Colon  was  changed  from  a  pest  hole  to  a  health  resort. 

Colonel  Gorgas  was  not  only  a  great  physician  and  adminis- 


FROM    LAKE    MOHONK    TO    DISTRACTED    JAMAICA  333 

trator  but  a  thorough-going  Christian  and  a  kindly  gentleman, 
and  his  cordial  words  added  much  to  the  interest  of  the  meet- 
ings I  have  mentioned. 

"  How  did  the  Panamanians  stand  this  interference  with 
their  natural  and  vested  rights  in  bad  drainage,  bad  water,  and 
mosquitoes?  "  I  asked.  "  Oh,  they  were  just  indifferent,"  he 
replied,  "  they  didn't  care  so  long  as  we  paid  for  the  so-called 
improvements."  So  well  loved  was  the  good  Colonel  that 
all  the  people  were  delighted  when  President  Roosevelt  on 
his  famous  visit  to  the  Canal  actually  hugged  him  openly 
on  his  arrival. 

Another  man  of  special  interest  whom  I  remember  meet- 
ing during  our  week  in  Panama  was  President  Manuel  Amador 
Guerrero,  then  the  President  of  the  tiny  republic.  He  was  a 
doctor  of  medicine  by  profession,  a  man  of  education  and  re- 
finement, with  a  piercing  black  eye,  and  an  eager  cordial  way  of 
grasping  your  hand  that  made  you  feel  at  home  at  once  in  his 
modest  establishment. 

Another  man,  whom  I  was  especially  glad  to  meet  was  Hon. 
H.  G.  Squiers,  the  American  Minister  to  Panama,  a  position 
just  then  of  great  importance.  I  had  before  met  him  when  he 
was  Secretary  of  Legation  in  Peking,  just  before  the  Boxer 
troubles.  During  the  siege  of  Peking  he  won  golden  laurels, 
though  he  modestly  claimed,  as  I  have  before  related,  that 
some  of  the  missionaries  whom  I  knew,  especially  Dr.  Ament 
and  Dr.  Gamewell,  were  the  real  captains  in  that  siege.  Such 
praise  was  all  the  more  remarkable  because  Mr.  Squiers  was  a 
Roman  Catholic  and  would  not  be  supposed  to  be  prejudiced 
in  favor  of  Protestant  missionaries. 

He  told  me  a  story  which  illustrates  the  Roman  Catholic 
point  of  view  as  well  as  any  I  ever  heard.  He  said  that  he 
and  Dr.  Ament  were  much  thrown  together  during  the  siege, 
and  became  quite  intimate,  so  that  on  one  occasion  Dr.  Ament 
said  to  him,  "  I  can't  understand,  Squiers,  how  a  man  of  your 
intelligence  can  believe  in  some  of  your  doctrines,  the  in- 


334  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

fallibility  of  the  Pope,  for  instance."  "  I  replied  to  him,"  said 
Mr.  Squiers,  "  I  do  not  see  how  a  man  of  your  intelligence 
can  believe  in  some  of  your  Protestant  doctrines,  but  as  for 
the  infallibility  of  the  Pope,  my  belief  in  that  is  the  same  as 
your  belief  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  j  —  not 
that  the  Pope  can  never  do  wrong  or  make  a  mistake,  but  that 
he  is  the  highest  authority  we  have  in  religion,  and  since  there 
is  no  higher,  we  bow  to  that  when  once  the  decision  has  been 
made." 

I  do  not  vouch  for  Mr.  Squiers'  interpretation  as  being  the 
usual  Catholic  view,  but  it  is  of  interest  to  know  how  an  in- 
telligent Romanist  looks  at  this  question. 


Chapter  XXX 
Year  1907 

THE    WEST    COAST    OF    SOUTH    AMERICA 

PANAMA    CANAL    IN    THE    MAKING PECULIARITIES    OF    THE 

WEST    COAST LIMA,    THE    PARIS    OF    SOUTH    AMERICA 

HARVARD  UNIVERSITY  IN  AREQUIPA A  PERILOUS  JOUR- 
NEY    LAKE      TITICACA BEAUTIFUL     SANTIAGO THE 

CHRIST  OF  THE  ANDES. 

UR  visit  to  the  Canal  Zone  happened  to  come 
at  a  most  interesting  time,  when  the  great 
water-way  which  divided  the  two  Americas, 
and  united  them  more  closely  to  the  rest  of 
the  world,  was  in  the  making 5  4,000  car- 
penters and  builders,  3,000  diggers,  and  tens 
of  thousands  of  workmen  of  all  descriptions  and  from  almost 
every  nation  and  tribe  and  tongue  in  the  world,  were  employed 
to  accomplish  this  monumental  scheme,  which  the  dense  captain 
of  the  British  steamer  that  took  us  from  Jamaica  to  Colon  even 
then  told  us  with  a  sneer  would  never  be  accomplished. 

The  "  Guatemala,"  on  which  we  sailed  from  Panama  on  the 
west  coast,  put  off  her  sailing  date  in  an  exasperating  manner 
from  day  to  day,  but  at  last  got  under  way,  and  we  were  off 
for  the  long  voyage  of  twenty-three  days,  down  the  sterile 
west  coast  of  South  America  to  Valparaiso.  The  first  few 
days  of  the  journey,  however,  showed  us  a  coast  that  was  any- 
thing but  sterile.  It  luxuriates  in  a  wonderful  growth  of 
tropical  vegetation. 

So  curious  are  the  indentations  of  the  Panama  Coast  that 
when  sailing  from  Panama  on  the  west  coast,  we  were  actually 

335 


336  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

farther  east  than  when  we  arrived  at  Colon  on  the  east  coast. 
But  soon  the  points  of  the  compass  became  natural  again, 
and  straight  away  south  by  west  we  sailed  along  the  coast  of 
Colombia. 

We  cast  anchor  for  the  first  time  on  this  voyage  sixty  miles 
up  the  Guayas  River,  just  far  enough  from  Ecuador's  chief 
port,  Guayaquil,  to  escape  the  Yellow  Fever  which  was  then 
raging  and  carrying  off  its  victims  by  the  thousand  every  month. 


CuLEBRA  Cut  When  the  Panama  Canal  Was  Built 

We  could  not  go  ashore  on  this  account,  but,  as  we  did  not  go 
to  them,  the  mosquitoes  came  down  the  river,  in  swarms 
billions  strong,  to  visit  us.  So  thick  were  they  on  the  bulwarks 
of  the  vessel  that  in  some  places  they^  painted  black  the  white 
woodwork  of  the  upper  deck.  We  screened  our  cabin  doors 
and  windows  as  best  we  could,  but  passed  one  or  two  most  un- 
comfortable nights  while  lying  at  anchor  in  the  stream  waiting 
for  our  cargo,  since  no  one  was  allowed  to  go  ashore  or  come 
aboard  for  fear  of  quarantine  regulations  further  on. 


THE    WEST    COAST    OF    SOUTH    AMERICA  337 

Fortunately  the  mosquitoes  that  can  fly  three  miles  are  not 
of  the  virulent  variety.  Though  they  caused  much  discomfort 
they  brought  no  disease  with  them.  The  Guayas  is  a  magnifi- 
cent stream,  many  miles  wide  as  it  approaches  the  ocean,  and 
great  islands  of  tropical  vegetation,  sometimes  bearing  large 
bushes  and  trees  which  had  broken  off  from  the  shores,  floated 
by  our  ship  back  and  forth  as  the  tide  ebbed  and  flowed. 

Every  day  of  the  voyage  our  steamer  stopped  at  some  port 
on  the  route  to  take  on  or  discharge  cargo,  and  thus  the  monot- 
ony of  the  voyage  was  much  relieved  as  we  sailed  chiefly  in 
the  night  time. 

Our  ship  was  a  regular  menagerie  of  domestic  animals,  cows 
and  pigs,  ducks  and  chickens.  Great  quantities  of  tropical  fruits 
formed  part  of  the  cargo.  Besides  the  domestic  animals  and 
fowls,  other  varieties  of  the  feathered  tribe  were  represented 
in  great  variety  on  our  ship.  Parrots  and  paroquets  were  in 
the  majority.  They  are  found  everywhere  along  these  shores, 
and  are  brought  for  sale  to  the  ships  in  large  numbers.  Be- 
sides, we  carried  other  birds  like  canaries  from  Chili,  redbirds 
from  Peru,  and  an  occasional  long-legged  bird  somewhat  like 
a  crane,  that  hopped  solemnly  along  the  deck  inviting  the 
passengers  to  scratch  its  neck,  for  which  attention  it  seemed 
genuinely  grateful. 

At  first  I  could  not  imagine  for  whom  the  tons  of  oranges, 
mangoes,  and  green  vegetables  which  took  up  most  of  the  space 
on  the  after  deck  were  intended,  but  soon  after  leaving  Guaya- 
quil I  found  that  we  had  come  to  the  dry  zone  of  South 
America,  where  it  never  rains,  and  where  fresh  fruits  and  green 
vegetables  are  in  keen  demand  at  every  port. 

At  noon  of  one  day  the  ship  will  steam  out  of  the  port  of 
Guayaquil  in  a  pouring  tropical  shower,  during  which  perhaps 
an  inch  of  rain  will  fall  in  an  hour.  At  midnight  of  the  same 
day  it  passes  the  point  on  the  Peruvian  shore,  close  to  the 
Ecuadorian  border,  where  we  were  told  it  had  not  rained  for 
sixteen  years,  and  might  not  rain  for  sixteen  years  to  come. 


338  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

A  remarkable  change  in  the  temperature  of  the  morning  bath 
takes  place  between  sunset  and  sunrise.  One  day  it  is  hot  and 
unrefreshing,  the  bath  thermometer  standing  at  about  eighty 
degrees  J  the  next,  one  shivers  with  the  cold  as  he  steps  into 
the  bath  and  finds  that  there  is  a  difference  of  thirty  degrees 
by  the  thermometer.  The  Antarctic  current  which  sweeps  up 
the  west  coast  of  South  America  performs  the  same  beneficent 
task  for  these  hot  and  arid  regions  that  the  Gulf  Stream  per- 
forms for  the  northern  countries  of  Europe.  The  Antarctic 
current  brings  coolness  and  health  to  the  tropics,  the  Gulf 
Stream  brings  warmth  and  life  even  to  the  Arctic  regions  of 
northern  Scandinavia. 

Our  first  long  stop  on  the  west  coast  was  at  Callao,  the  port 
of  Lima,  the  capital  of  Peru,  a  busy,  thriving  seaport,  and  the 
gateway  to  a  very  interesting  capital  that  prides  itself  on  being 
the  "  Paris  of  South  America."  We  were  accused  by  some 
friends  who  met  us  at  Callao  with  buying  lottery  tickets  as 
soon  as  we  got  ashore.  Mildly  resenting  the  charge  we  found 
that  it  was  nevertheless  true,  for  the  tickets  on  the  tram-car 
which  took  us  to  Lima,  were  also  good  for  an  infinitesimal 
chance  in  the  national  lottery  which  was  soon  to  be  drawn. 
The  purpose  of  this  lottery,  it  was  said,  was  to  provide  a  special 
inducement  to  Peruvians  not  only  to  buy  tram-car  tickets,  but 
also  to  preserve  them.  Thus  a  check  was  placed  on  the  rapacity 
of  conductors,  who  otherwise  might  steal  them  when  once  used 
and  sell  them  again  to  the  next  passenger. 

Lima  is  a  bright  and  interesting  city  with  a  charming  river, 
the  Rimac,  dashing  and  splashing  through  it  at  a  great  rate. 
The  city  is  also  exceedingly  interesting  historically,  for  it  has 
been  besieged  and  sacked  j  has  seen  revolution  and  counter 
revolution  J  has  conquered  and  been  conquered,  and  has  come 
out  of  every  tribulation  still  vigorous,  and  often  stronger, 
richer  and  more  prosperous  than  ever. 

Bright  and  beautiful  as  it  is  in  its  many  colors,  it  is  largely 
a  city  of  mud,  or  sun-dried  adobe  bricks,  which  would  melt 


THE    WEST    COAST    OF    SOUTH    AMERICA  339 

away  in  a  good  Yankee  northeast  storm.  Yet  it  is  wonderful 
what  fine  effects  can  be  obtained  from  such  material,  and  an 
abundance  of  vari-colored  pigments.  The  cathedral  in  the 
central  square  is  a  truly  imposing  and  beautiful  building,  but 
the  most  interesting  relic  it  contained  for  my  eyes,  was  a  glass 
coffin  in  which  are  exposed  the  bones  of  the  infamous  Pizarro, 
the  heartless  conqueror  of  Peru.  I  was  glad  to  see  him  in  a 
place  where  he  could  make  no  more  trouble,  and  could  commit 
no  more  barbarities. 

While  in  Lima  I  had  the  pleasure  of  an  interview  with  His 
Excellency  Don  Jose  Pardo,  President  of  the  Republic. 
Though  we  knew  no  language  in  common,  my  kind  inter- 
preters, Hon.  R.  I.  Neill,  United  States  Charge  d'Aff aires, 
and  Rev.  J.  S.  Watson,  a  well  known  missionary,  supplied  my 
lack  of  Spanish. 

Mr.  Watson  explained  the  object  and  extent  of  the  Christian 
Endeavor  movement,  whereupon  President  Pardo  asked,  "Is 
it  a  Catholic  organization?  "  "  No,"  answered  Mr.  Watson 
diplomatically,  "  It  is  just  Christian."  "  Then,"  said  the  Presi- 
dent to  me,  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye,  "  we  shall  have  to  apply 
Section  IV.  of  the  constitution  to  you."  At  which  the  others 
smiled  audibly  for  they  understood,  as  I  did  not,  that  Section 
IV.  was  the  article  of  the  constitution  which  forbids  the  propa- 
gation of  any  religion  except  the  Roman  Catholic.  However 
we  all  saw  that  the  President  was  not  very  serious,  and  he  went 
on  to  say  to  me:  "The  spirit  of  the  people  of  Peru  is  very 
tolerant,  though  the  constitution  is  very  intolerant."  President 
Pardo  was  a  young  man  with  a  pleasant  face,  modestly  dressed 
in  civilian  clothes,  and  is  the  son  of  D.  Manuel  Pardo,  Peru's 
first  civilian  president,  who  came  into  power  in  the  early  seven- 
ties, and  iWhose  memory  is  greatly  honored  throughout  the 
Republic. 

Before  leaving  Peru  an  excursion  in  the  high  Andes  came 
near  preventing  the  writing  of  this  biography  or  the  perform- 
ance of  any  other  labors  on  our  part  on  this  mundane  sphere. 


340  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

This  was  the  journey  on  the  Oroya  Railway  which  climbs  the 
Andes  to  a  height  of  nearly  fifteen  thousand  feet,  toled  thither 
by  the  rich  copper  mines  on  the  summit.  In  a  little  bob-tailed 
car,  used  especially  for  such  ascents,  together  with  other  fellow 
passengers,  we  mounted,  one  by  one,  the  incredible  zigzags. 
This  railway  is  considered  one  of  the  engineering  marvels  of 
the  world,  ranking  with  the  Suez  Canal,  the  St.  Gothard 
Tunnel,  and  the  Culebra  Cut. 

Of  course  we  never  thought  of  taking  umbrellas  or  water- 
proofs in  a  country  where  it  had  not  rained  for  a  hundred  years, 
so  we  all  started  gaily  up  the  mighty  mountain,  enchanted  by 
the  grand  and  rugged  scenery  which  in  this  respect  is  unsur- 
passed in  all  the  world.  I  was  deeply  interested  in  the  signs 
of  the  past  civilization  as  we  beheld  the  terraces  built  far  up 
the  mountain  slopes  in  Atahualpa's  time.  To  these  terraces, 
built  with  infinite  toil  for  three  thousand  feet  above  the  plain, 
earth  had  been  carried  on  the  backs  of  men,  and  gardens  and 
vineyards  planted  by  the  patient  Aztecs  of  a  thousand  years  ago. 

The  climate  of  the  mountains  is  not  the  climate  of  the  low- 
lands, as  we  soon  found,  and  a  drenching  rain  began  before  we 
reached  the  end  of  our  journey.  This  storm,  unusually  severe 
even  for  the  mountain  region,  loosened  vast  quantities  of  soil 
and  rock,  and  on  the  return,  coming  around  a  sharp  bend  in 
the  road  on  the  edge  of  a  frightful  precipice,  a  sheer  drop  of 
thousands  of  feet,  our  little  engine  ran  into  a  small  mountain 
of  earth  and  stuck  fast,  for  some  twenty-four  hours. 

Fortunately  the  car  did  not  go  over  the  precipice.  With  the 
other  passengers,  summoning  what  good  nature  we  could  com- 
mand, we  trudged  through  the  driving  rain  for  five  miles  down 
the  track,  constantly  menaced  by  small  avalanches  of  mud  and 
stone  which  rattled  down  the  steep  mountain  side,  until  we 
came  to  the  next  station,  where,  after  a  wait  of  some  hours, 
another  train  took  us  back  to  Lima. 

A  visit  to  the  fine  Harvard  observatory  near  Arequipa  was 
another  memorable  event  of  our  journey  in  Peru.     In  order 


THE    WEST    COAST    OF    SOUTH    AMERICA 


341 


to  reach  Arequipa,  one  must  disembark  at  Mollendo,  a  port 
which  vies  with  Antifogasta  as  being  the  worst  landing  place  in 
the  known  world.  Indeed  there  is  no  port  or  harbor  in  any 
sense  of  the  word,  but  simply  an  anchorage  ground  on  the 
storm-beaten  coast.  Even  when  no  storm  is  raging  the  mighty 
swell  of  the  South  Pacific  seems  to  heave  the  little  boats  in 
which  we  land  up  to  the  stars,  and  again  to  drop  them  down 
toward  the  bottomless  pit.  "  The  landing  may  not  be  as  danger- 


OuR  Little  Train  in  a  Landslide  on  the  High  Peruvian  Andes 

ous  as  it  seems,  for  accidents  are  comparatively  rare,  though 
only  in  good  weather  is  a  landing  possible. 

Six  hours  of  steady  climbing  by  rail  from  Mollendo  brought 
us  to  Arequipa,  beautiful  for  situation,  and  of  special  interest 
to  Americans  because  of  the  Harvard  observatory,  which  here 
seeks  to  view  the  stars  through  the  pure  air  of  the  Andes, 
8,000  feet  above  the  sea.  The  city  of  Arequipa  itself  is  a 
bigoted,  priest-ridden  city  with  a  big  cathedral  and  interminable 
streets  of  dirty  adobe  houses.     But  the  fresh,  clean,  sweet, 


342  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

flower-decked  home  of  the  American  astronomers  seems  like 
a  little  paradise,  after  passing  through  the  purgatory  of  Are- 
quipa's  slums. 

The  observatory  is  used  solely  for  photographing  the  stars, 
and  we  saw  a  single  negative  17  x  14  inches  in  size  which  had 
caught  the  pictures  of  no  less  than  400,000  stars,  and  were  told 
that  it  would  take  two  thousand  plates  of  this  size  to  photo- 
graph the  whole  southern  heavens  as  seen  from  this  ob- 
servatory. 

"  What  is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him,  and  the  son 
of  man,  that  Thou  visitest  him!  " 

There  are  few  places  in  the  world  that  enjoy  such  magnifi- 
cent scenery  as  does  this  observatory.  Mighty  Misti,  and 
Chachani,  tower  more  than  two  miles  above  us,  though  we  are 
a  mile  and  a  half  above  the  sea,  while  the  rushing  Chili  River 
cuts  a  deep  gorge  at  the  foot  of  the  observatory  hill.  What 
view  in  all  the  world  combines  such  mountains  and  such  a 
valley,  with  roaring  river  and  busy  city  to  give  life  to  the 
superb  scene  ? 

But  Arequipa  was  less  than  half  way  to  our  destination, 
which  was  La  Paz,  the  capital  of  Bolivia.  Up,  up,  ever  up, 
the  railway  climbs.  At  last  after  some  twenty  hours  of  steady 
ascent  from  Mollendo,  the  highest  pass,  14,666  feet  above  the 
sea,  is  reached.  This  is  almost  the  same  height  as  the  top  of 
Mt.  Blanc,  but  so  near  the  Equator  are  we  that  the  snow  line 
is  2,000  feet  higher  still.  Many  of  our  fellow  passengers 
suffered  from  "  mountain  sickness,"  which  in  its  visible  effects 
does  not  differ  from  sea-sickness.  On  this  occasion  the  two 
Americans  suffered  far  less  than  the  native  Peruvians. 

Lake  Titicaca  is  some  thousand  feet  or  more  below  the  high- 
est point  of  the  railroad  pass,  and  we  crossed  it  in  the  night 
in  a  little  boat  whose  bullet  holes  were  reminiscent  of  one  of 
Bolivia's  frequent  revolutions.  Then  another  sixty  miles  of 
railway,  and  we  looked  down  into  what  seemed  like  a  vast 
crater,  and,  behold!  in  the  lowest  depths  of  this  crater  was  a 


THE    WEST    COAST    OF    SOUTH    AMERICA  343 

city  of  80,000  inhabitants,  La  Paz,  the  capital  of  the  moun- 
tain republic  of  Bolivia, 

Here,  so  far  removed  from  what  we  are  pleased  to  term 
"  civilization,"  we  found  people  buying  and  selling  and  getting 
gain,  marrying  and  giving  in  marriage,  living  and  dying  like 
the  rest  of  us,  and  believing  all  the  time  that  their  capital 
is  the  very  centre  of  the  earth,  on  which  all  eyes  should 
be  fixed.  The  immediate  surroundings  are  barren  and  desolate, 
yet  it  is  a  city  of  flowers  and  fruits,  for  a  few  miles  down  the 
mountain  side,  in  an  opposite  direction  from  that  in  which  we 
came,  rich  tropical  vegetation  abounds  and  is  brought  up  on  the 
patient  backs  of  llamas,  and  no  less  patient  Bolivian  peasants. 

The  llama  is  a  most  interesting  little  beast  of  burden,  timid 
as  a  hare,  but  docile  as  a  pet  dog  if  he  is  not  overloaded.  He 
will  take  a  hundred  pounds  on  his  back  without  complaint,  and 
toil  on  day  after  day,  asking  for  little  food  or  water j  but  add 
another  five  pounds  to  his  load,  and  he  will  lie  down,  as  ob- 
stinate as  a  mule,  until  relieved  of  his  extra  weight.  Long 
lines  of  these  creatures,  their  small  ears  constantly  pricked  in 
fright,  continually  toil  up  the  Andes  and  are  driven  through 
the  streets  of  La  Paz  in  great  numbers. 

Only  one  meeting  detained  us  in  La  Paz,  and  the  sight- 
seeing did  not  take  many  hours.  There  are  several  large 
Catholic  churches,  out  of  one  of  which  my  daughter  was 
hustled  rather  unceremoniously,  because,  not  knowing  their 
customs,  she  wore  a  hat  in  church.  The  Methodists  have  a 
mission  here,  and  we  made  some  pleasant  acquaintances  among 
them.  The  American  Minister,  a  very  chatty  gentleman,  had 
just  learned  from  a  young  man  who  travelled  with  us  that  his 
yearly  salary  had  been  raised  to  $10,000.  We  felt,  as  I  have 
no  doubt  he  did,  that  to  spend  his  life  in  La  Paz,  however 
light  his  duties,  was  well  worth  the  money. 

Returning  to  Mollendo  we  took  another  steamer  for  the 
rest  of  the  journey  to  Valparaiso,  a  steamer  whose  machinery 
was  out  of  order,  whose  valves  leaked,  which  could  make  but 


344  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

five  miles  an  hour  during  part  of  the  journey,  and  would  in- 
evitably have  been  wrecked  had  a  storm  arisen.  Nevertheless, 
with  all  these  drawbacks  and  the  further  disadvantage  that 
the  steamer  was  crowded  almost  beyond  belief  before  we 
reached  Valparaiso,  so  that  some  of  the  passengers  slept  in  the 
companionways  and,  it  was  said,  in  the  bath-tubs,  it  was  a 
thoroughly  interesting  journey. 

As  we  passed  the  guano  islands,  off  the  coast,  vast  swarms  of 
water-birds  darkened  the  sun,  and  seals  and  walruses,  porpoises 
and  acres  of  writhing  water-snakes  filled  the  sea.  In  no  part 
of  the  known  world  is  nature  so  lavish  with  her  fauna.  Huge 
flocks  of  pelicans  would  drop  down  hundreds  of  feet  into  the 
water  with  a  splash  that  could  be  heard  a  mile  away,  fill  their 
great  pouches  with  the  abundant  fish,  and  struggle  into  the  air 
again,  soon  to  take  another  dive  for  prey  which  they  could 
never  miss,  so  abundant  was  the  sea  life. 

At  many  ports,  especially  Antofagasta,  nitrate  was  being 
loaded  into  waiting  ships  that  gave  these  little  ports  a  semblance 
of  great  activity.  More  valuable  than  the  richest  gold  mine 
have  these  nitrates  been  to  Chili,  and  we  do  not  wonder  that 
Peru  was  extremely  sore  that  they  were  taken  away  from  her  in 
the  last  war  between  these  two  republics. 

So  bitter  is  the  feeling  that  even  the  children  share  it,  and 
it  is  scarcely  to  be  wondered  at  that  a  little  boy,  when  asked 
by  the  missionary  if  Christ  died  for  all  men,  insisted  on  mak- 
ing an  exception  of  the  Chilians. 

Arriving  in  the  harbor  of  Valparaiso,  a  veritable  Spanish 
Armada  of  small  boats  came  out  to  meet  our  steamer,  each  one 
manned  by  pirates  as  it  seemed,  who  swarmed  aboard  our  ship, 
fought  for  our  baggage,  and  demanded  almost  at  the  point 
of  a  gun  that  we  should  hire  them  to  take  us  ashore  at  a  price 
at  least  five  times  the  legal  fare.  When  we  were  almost  ready 
to  yield  to  their  demands,  a  friend  came  aboard  and  rescued 
us  from  the  bandits,  who  knew  that  they  could  not  impose  with 
impunity  upon  a  resident  of  Valpal-aiso. 


THE    WEST    COAST    OF    SOUTH    AMERICA  345 

Viewed  from  the  sea  one  does  not  wonder  that  this  great 
Chilian  port  is  called  the  "  Vale  of  Paradise,"  though  our 
mental  vision  of  Paradise  receded  as  we  approached  the  city, 
and  was  entirely  blotted  out  when  we  entered  the  busiest  sec- 
tion of  the  city  and  found  only  blackened  ruins,  where,  until 
within  a  very  few  weeks,  fire  had  been  smouldering  for  months. 
Less  than  a  year  before,  Valparaiso,  like  Kingston,  had  been 
wrecked  in  a  terrible  earthquake,  and  the  authorities  were  very 
slow  about  rebuilding  the  city,  showing  nothing  of  the  enter- 
prise of  San  Francisco,  which,  to  a  like  extent,  had  been  wrecked 
by  earthquake  and  fire.  We  found  some  good  friends  and  had 
some  most  interesting  meetings  in  Valparaiso  and  Santiago, 
whither  we  journeyed  a  few  days  after  landing. 

Santiago,  "  Jamestown  "  when  translated  into  English,  is  in- 
deed the  gem  of  the  Pacific  Coast  of  South  America.  No  city 
has  a  more  beautiful  park  than  Santa  Lucia.  It  is  a  tremendous 
isolated  rock  rising  five  hundred  feet  in  the  very  heart  of 
the  city.  Man  has  supplemented  nature  in  making  Santa  Lucia 
the  most  beautiful  city  breathing-place  in  all  the  Americas. 
Strings  of  many  colored  electric  lights  at  night  take  the  place 
of  the  flowers  by  dayj  fountains  and  marble  statues  appear  at 
unexpected  corners  j  cool  grottoes  invite  one  to  linger  in  their 
shade  on  the  upward  climb,  and  a  gurgling  brook  that  comes 
leaping  down  the  hillside  adds  its  music  to  the  songs  of  the 
birds  in  the  trees,  while  far  off  on  the  horizon  great  snow- 
clad  giants  of  the  Andes  rise  20,000  feet  and  more  above  the 
sea,  seeming  to  hem  in  the  city  on  all  sides. 

Here  the  Presbyterians  have  a  splendid  work,  and  we  found 
it  a  most  delightful  missionary  centre.  President  Montt,  then 
Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Republic,  received  us  very  cordially. 
He  is  the  son  of  one  of  Chili's  greatest  presidents,  and  looked 
not  unlike  President  Diaz  of  Mexico.  His  swarthy  face,  like 
that  of  Mexico's  former  president,  declares  his  partial  Indian 
descent.  His  official  residence  was  the  large  and  stately  palace 
at  Santiago,  yet  it  has  about  it  a  certain  republican  simplicity, 


346  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

characteristic  of  the  one  who  was  then  its  official  resident,  who 
gave  his  people  an  honest  and  on  the  whole  most  successful 
administration. 

Our  visit  to  Santiago  fell  in  Holy  Week.  On  Thursday  of 
Passion  Week  it  was  indeed  a  strange  and  funereal  sight  that 
we  gazed  upon.  The  whole  city  was  in  mourning.  A  native 
woman  was  clothed  in  black,  and  a  foreign  woman  with  a 
picture  hat  would  have  been  as  much  out  of  place  as  a  wedding 
wreath  at  a  burial.  Indeed  very  few  foreigners  even  ven- 
tured out  without  the  black  mantilla  over  their  heads,  otherwise 
they  might  have  been  in  danger  of  mob  violence. 

On  Good  Friday  all  business  was  suspended.  The  people 
flocked  by  the  tens  of  thousands  to  see  the  images  brought  out 
for  their  annual  procession,  a  dozen  great  floats  representing 
our  Lord  in  Gethsemane,  betrayed,  scourged,  and  finally 
nailed  to  the  cross.  They  were  each  borne  on  the  backs  of 
groaning,  perspiring  men,  who  could  carry  them  only  a  few 
feet  before  they  set  them  down  to  rest,  while  the  assembled 
thousands  that  lined  the  sidewalks  stood  with  uncovered  heads 
in  reverent  silence  as  they  looked  upon  these  crude  repre- 
sentations of  our  Lord's  last  sufferings.  The  scene  seemed  to 
me  solemn  and  impressive. 

An  American  young  lady  in  our  party  was  made  faint  for 
a  moment  by  the  stifling  crowd  and  heat  and  odors,  and  had  to 
retire  to  the  shelter  of  a  neighboring  doorway.  "  A  judgment 
on  the  heretic,"  some  women  in  the  crowd  were  heard  to  say. 
"  She  could  not  endure  the  presence  of  the  Lord." 

In  1907  the  tunnel  through  the  Andes,  which  connects  the 
republics  of  Chili  and  Argentina,  had  not  been  completed,  and 
the  journey  across  the  continent  was  a  far  more  formidable 
matter  than  it  is  to-day,  and  involved  a  long  and  hazardous 
stage-ride  journey  from  Juncal  to  Las  Cuevas  in  Argentina. 
In  those  days  this  was  indeed  a  hair-raising  trip.  Twenty  or 
more  little  coaches,  each  holding  half  a  dozen  people,  met 
the   passengers  at   Juncal.      These   coaches  belonged   to  two 


THE    WEST    COAST    OF    SOUTH    AMERICA  347 

rival  lines,  one  o£  which  painted  its  cabs  yellow,  and  the  other 
black.  The  drivers  indulged  in  frequent  races  to  get  ahead  of 
their  deadly  rivals,  and  often  in  most  inopportune  places. 
Our  own  driver  of  a  black  coach  attempted  a  short  cut  over  a 
small  hill  to  get  ahead  of  a  yellow  coach.  The  horses  floun- 
dered among  the  rocks,  and  we  all  saved  ourselves  from  a 
serious  smash-up  by  jumping  out  and  righting  the  vehicle. 
Another  carriage  in  the  procession  tipped  entirely  over. 

Going  up  the  mountain,  however,  on  the  Chilian  side  was 
not  extra  hazardous,  as  the  horses  were  obliged  to  walk.  But 
after  reaching  the  Argentine  boundary  the  descent  is  very 
rapid,  and  the  zigzags  are  as  numerous  as  the  curves  are  sharp. 
The  driver  whipped  up  his  horses,  and  at  break-neck  speed  we 
dashed  along,  four  horses  abreast.  The  outer  ones  edged 
away  from  the  precipice,  and  crowded  the  inner  steed  against 
the  bank.  There  is  no  wall  and  no  stone  posts,  as  on  the 
Swiss  roads,  to  guard  the  sides,  and  each  side  is  either  a 
precipitous  mountain  or  a  fathomless  precipice.  Around  every 
curve  the  coach  slewed  with  only  two  wheels  on  the  ground, 
and  the  precipice  only  six  inches,  as  it  seemed,  from  the  out- 
side wheel. 

On  the  height  of  the  pass,  on  the  exact  boundary  between 
the  two  countries,  stands  the  most  marvellous  statue  in  the 
world,  the  Christ  of  the  Andes,  erected  by  the  joint  republics 
in  gratitude  to  Almighty  God  for  their  escape  from  a  war  which 
had  seemed  inevitable,  when  wise  arbitration  and  conciliation 
took  the  place  of  shot  and  shell.  Their  cannon  were  melted 
down  to  form  the  most  benignant  statue  of  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

Upon  the  base  of  the  pedestal  are  inscribed  the  words  from 
Ephesians  "  He  is  our  peace,  who  hath  made  both  one."  The 
statue  has  been  described  so  often  that  I  will  not  dwell  upon  it, 
but  will  only  add  that  in  the  majestic  loneliness  of  its  situation, 
surrounded  by  the  mighty  Andes,  it  is  the  most  impressive 
statue  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  No  longer  do  most  travellers 
see  it,  for  the  new  tunnel  passes  directly  under  the  statue. 


348  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

I  was  fortunate  in  this  respect  in  making  the  journey  when  I 
did.     During  the  World  War  the  memory  of  this  majestic 


The  Christ  of  the  Andes 
On  the  boundary  between  Chile  and  Argentina. 

figure,  Standing  among  the  towering  Andes,  often  seemed  to 
bring  a  message  of  peace,  as  I  told  my  audiences  in  both  hemis- 


THE    WEST    COAST    OF    SOUTH    AMERICA  349 

pheres  its  story  and  its  meaning  for  us.  In  later  days  the 
treaty  of  peace,  and  for  the  limitation  of  armaments  between 
Chili  and  Argentina,  has  often  been  referred  to  as  prophetic 
of  what  the  Washington  Conference  may  by  its  example  accom- 
plish for  the  whole  world. 


Chapter  XXXI 

Year  1907 

THE    EAST    COAST    OF    SOUTH    AMERICA 

THE  WONDERFUL  CITY  OF  "  GOOD  AIR  ^^ AN  AUDIENCE  WITH 

PRESIDENT  ALCORTA RICH   LITTLE   URUGUAY RIO   DE 

JANEIRO  THE    PRINCE    OF    CITIES A   UNIQUE    PRAYER 

MEETING  SAO        PAULO  THE        COFFEE        REGION 

HOME  VIA  EUROPE. 

FTER  reaching  Las  Cuevas  the  journey  to 
Buenos  Ayres  afforded  no  unusual  thrills. 
In  the  Andes  region  the  scenery  is  surpass- 
ingly beautiful,  but  the  last  five  hundred 
miles  before  reaching  the  capital  is  over  the 
interminable  flat  prairies,  as  fertile  as  our 
own  best  Kansas  soil,  where  is  raised  a  large  portion  of  the 
world's  wheat  and  live-stock. 

Here  the  wealthy  nabobs  of  Buenos  Ayres  have  their  great 
haciendas^  enormous  farms  tilled  by  Italian  or  Spanish  peons, 
who  often  live  in  wretched  little  huts  while  the  owners  of  these 
vast  estates  luxuriate  in  the  palaces  of  Buenos  Ayres.  This 
"  City  of  Good  Air  "  seemed  to  me  more  remarkable  for  many 
other  things  than  for  the  purity  of  its  atmosphere,  for  it  is 
a  low-lying  city  in  the  delta  of  the  great  River  de  la  Plata. 
But  it  is  truly  a  glorious  capital,  surpassed  by  few  in  any  part 
of  the  world  for  its  public  buildings,  its  palatial  homes,  and  its 
general  air  of  wealth  and  prosperity.  There  are  slums,  it  is 
true,  but  they  are  not  greatly  in  evidence,  for  they  are  shut 
away  from  the  passers-by  in  huge  buildings  surrounding  an 


inner  courtyard  or  patio. 


350 


THE    EAST    COAST    OF    SOUTH    AMERICA  35 1 

We  found  here,  as  elsewhere,  some  warm  friends  who 
welcomed  us  to  their  churches  and  their  homes.  Prices  were, 
and  probably  still  are,  excessively  high  in  Buenos  Ayres,  and 
one  wonders  how  any  one  but  a  millionaire  can  live  there. 
An  ordinary  Derby  hat  cost  $12,  while  $19  or  $20  was  not  an 
unusual  price.  Collars  were  $2.50  a  dozen.  For  lawn  neckties 
such  as  I  could  then  buy  for  ten  cents  at  home,  the  dealer  un- 
blushingly  asked  seventy-five  cents,  and  kindly  told  me  I  could 
get  three  for  $2.  Nineteen  dollars  would  pay  for  a  pair  of 
boots  which  then  cost  three  and  a  half  at  home,  and  a  good 
suit  of  clothes  cost  $200.  It  is  true  that  these  prices  must  be 
divided  by  two  to  find  the  cost  in  gold,  but  even  then  the 
price  was  excessive,  though  since  the  iWar  North  American 
prices  have  not  been  far  behind. 

In  the  large  hotels  $12  a  day  was  the  minimum  rate,  and 
from  that  the  prices  mounted  to  $50.  The  problem  of  the 
existence  of  poor  people  is  solved  by  the  conventillay  great 
tenement  houses  built  around  a  courtyard,  every  house  contain- 
ing, perhaps,  hundreds  of  rooms,  in  each  of  which  lives  a 
whole  family 5  five  or  six  sleeping  in  one  bed,  I  was  told,  and 
the  cooking  being  done  over  charcoal  braziers  in  the  courtyard. 
Consequently,  if  provisions  are  not  abnormally  high,  the  con- 
vent'illa  solves  the  problem  of  existence  for  the  very  poor. 

The  palace  which  contains  the  government  offices  of 
Argentina  is  an  imposing  building  fronting  on  the  beantiful 
Plaza  de  Mayo.  Here  I  was  received  in  state  by  Senor  Alcorta, 
the  President  of  the  Republic.  He  was  a  great  stickler  for 
etiquette,  and  I  came  near  committing  lese  tnajeste  by  being 
three  minutes  late  at  the  appointed  interview,  for  I  had  been 
tendered  a  reception  by  the  Protestant  ministers  of  Buenos 
Ayres  only  an  hour  before  my  appointment  with  the  Pres- 
ident. However  by  persuading  the  cab  driver  to  whip  up  his 
horses,  we  reached  the  palace  just  in  season.  I  was  accompanied 
by  Hon.  A.  M.  Beaupre,  our  American  minister,  and  by  the 
presiding  elder  of  the  Methodist  Church,  as  my  interpreter, 


352  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

a  gentleman  who  had  the  reputation  of  being  the  best  inter- 
preter in  Argentina.  The  president  spoke  no  English,  but  Dr. 
Brees  put  my  questions  and  remarks  into  such  elegant  and 
courtly  Spanish  that,  however  much  a  stickler  for  the  proprie- 
ties the  President  may  have  been,  he  could  have  found  no  fault 
with  the  interview. 

The  visits  to  the  Presidents  of  the  four  republics  that  I  have 
mentioned,  and  the  other  high  dignitaries  whom  I  met  at  vari- 
ous times,  left  with  me  the  impression  that,  hov/ever  much 
the  subordinate  officials  of  the  South  American  republics  may 
deserve  their  reputation  for  graft  and  dishonesty,  this  rotten- 
ness did  not  reach  at  this  time  to  the  higher  places  in  the 
government,  and  that  those  in  the  highest  positions  in  the  lead- 
ing republics  of  South  America  were  at  least  honest  men  and 
true  patriots. 

"  I  see  a  mountain,"  cried  Ferdinand  Magellan,  on  January 
15,  A.D.  1520,  as  he  sailed  by  the  South  American  coast  on  his 
momentous  voyage  round  the  world.  "  I  see  a  mountain, 
Monte  video!  "  His  exclamation  has  given  a  name  to  the 
capital  of  the  little  republic  of  Uruguay,  where  we  lingered 
for  a  day  or  two  on  our  journey  up  the  coast  to  Rio  de  Janeiro. 
It  was  our  fortune  to  reach  Montevideo  on  April  19,  an  anni- 
versary familiar  to  Massachusetts  people. 

We  found  the  banks  and  shops  closed,  and  the  city  wearing 
a  general  holiday  air.  It  could  not  be,  I  thought,  that  six 
thousand  miles  away  they  were  celebrating  the  Concord  fight 
and  the  Battle  of  Lexington,  and  I  was  soon  informed  that 
it  was  the  anniversary  of  the  "  Landing  of  the  Thirty-Three," 
a  day  as  religiously  observed  in  Uruguay  as  the  landing  of  the 
Pilgrims  in  New  England.  The  Thirty-Three  were  a  band 
of  adventurers  who  on  April  19,  1825,  landed  on  the  shores 
of  Uruguay,  then  under  the  domination  of  Brazil,  rallied  the 
people  to  their  standard,  and  soon,  in  spite  of  desperate  efforts 
on  the  part  of  Brazil,  Uruguay  was  free  and  independent. 

I  was  told  a  curious  story  of  the  miscarriage  of  justice  in 


THE    EAST    COAST    OF    SOUTH    AMERICA  353 

the  former  annals  of  Uruguay,  which  I  think  has  rarely  been 
matched.  In  1897  President  Borda  was  assassinated  in  the 
streets  of  Montevideo.  While  he  was  marching  at  the  head 
of  a  religious  procession  a  grocer's  clerk  was  seen  to  walk  de- 
liberately up  to  him,  press  a  pistol  against  his  white  shirt  front, 
and  fire  point  blank.  Of  course  the  President  fell.  He  was 
buried  without  a  fost  mortem  examination,  which  seemed  un- 
necessary. When  the  grocer's  clerk,  who  was  arrested  red- 
handed,  came  to  be  tried  for  his  life,  his  lawyer  pleaded  that 
according  to  Uruguayan  law  a  -post  mortem  examination  was 
necessary,  to  prove  whether  the  President  died  from  fright, 
heart  disease,  or  a  pistol  shot.  So  his  client  could  not  be  con- 
victed. The  jury,  strange  to  say,  took  the  lawyer's  view  of  the 
case,  and  condemned  the  assassin  to  three  years'  imprisonment 
for  "  insulting  "  the  President  —  an  insult  with  a  vengeance, 
indeed. 

Montevideo  strikes  the  tourist,  fresh  from  the  stir  and 
bustle  of  mighty  Buenos  Ayres,  as  rather  a  sleepy  old  town, 
and  as  somewhat  commonplace,  if  he  comes  from  the  north, 
with  the  glories  of  beautiful  Rio  de  Janeiro  in  his  mind's  eye. 
But  its  inhabitants  are  never  tired  of  praising  the  city  for  its 
situation,  its  climate,  and  its  sedate  business  ways,  which  I  was 
assured  more  than  once  are  far  superior  to  the  greed  for  the 
almighty  dollar  evinced  in  Buenos  Ayres,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and 
pre-eminently  in  the  United  States. 

The  potential  wealth  of  Uruguay  is  no  doubt  enormous, 
for  though  the  smallest  republic  in  South  America,  it  is  as 
large  as  England  and  is  practically  one  vast  pasture,  which 
now  feeds  hundreds  of  thousands  of  cattle,  and  which  might 
as  well  feed  millions,  on  its  rich  native  grasses. 

No  two  shores  can  present  greater  contrasts  than  the  east 
and  west  coasts  of  South  America.  The  barren,  sterile,  for- 
bidding mountains  of  Chili  and  Peru  give  place  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  continent  to  softly  rounded  hills  clothed  to  their 
summits   in    living   green,    vast    savannas,    and    interminable 


354  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

forests.  The  few  rivers  on  the  west  coast  are  short  and  rapid, 
while  on  the  east  coast  some  of  the  mightiest  streams  in  the 
world,  the  La  Plata,  the  Amazon,  and  the  Orinoco,  pour  their 
muddy  tides  into  the  Atlantic. 

No  country  has  made  greater  progress  since  the  twentieth 
century  was  born  than  the  Republic  of  Brazil.  Then  its  great 
ports,  Santos,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  Bahia,  were  the  favorite 
haunts  of  yellow  fever  and  every  tropical  disease.  Captains 
avoided  them  as  far  as  possible,  and  made  as  short  a  stay  as 
business  requirements  allowed,  and  then  often  paid  a  large  toll 
in  the  death  of  half  their  crew.  Early  in  the  century  the 
authorities  of  Brazil  woke  up  to  the  desperateness  of  the  situa- 
tion and  began  house-cleaning  in  good  earnest,  until  now  few 
ports  are  safer  than  Santos,  which  was  formerly  the  worst  of 
all  pest-holes,  and  none  is  so  beautiful  as  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

As  our  steamer  from  Buenos  Ayres  sailed  into  the  magnifi- 
cent harbor  of  Rio,  between  the  towering  mountains  that 
shut  it  in,  we  saw  to  our  surprise  two  steam  launches  coming 
out  to  meet  the  steamer,  and  still  more  to  our  surprise,  on  the 
launches  a  large  number  of  Endeavorers,  who  greeted  us  with 
true  Brazilian  enthusiasm. 

The  mystery  of  the  government  launches  being  used  on 
such  an  occasion  was  soon  explained.  It  seemed  that  the  rabid 
Catholic  papers  of  the  city  had  spread  abroad  the  news  that 
I  was  an  emissary  of  the  government  and  a  special  agent  of 
President  Roosevelt's  to  spy  out  the  land,  an  innocent  letter 
of  introduction  from  the  President  being  the  cause  of  this  last 
absurd  rumor.  Moreover,  the  papers  went  on  to  apply  various 
uncomplimentary  adjectives  to  myself  and  to  the  Christian 
Endeavor  movement,  which  they  called  the  latest  spawn  of 
Protestantism.  The  government,  however,  took  no  stock  in 
this  puerile  propaganda,  but  recognized  its  source  and  animus, 
and,  by  offering  the  Endeavorers  the  free  use  of  the  govern- 
ment launches,  thus  showed  their  disapproval  and  contempt 
of  the  priests  and  their  stories.     Moreover  the  government 


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THE    EAST    COAST    OF    SOUTH    AMERICA  357 

gave  the  Endeavorers  free  transportation  on  the  government 
railway  to  Sao  Paulo,  some  two  hundred  miles  from  Rio  de 
Janeiro,  where  the  chief  Brazilian  convention  was  held. 

Delightful  but  busy  days  awaited  us  in  this  charming  capital, 
which  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  both  for  situation,  and 
for  the  improvements  made  by  man,  is  in  most  respects  the 
most  beautiful  city  in  all  the  world.  Its  natural  attractions 
cannot  be  surpassed.  The  great  harbor,  which  could  hold 
the  navies  of  the  world,  with  plenty  of  room  to  spare,  the 
striking  mountains  hemming  it  in,  have  always  been  there, 
but  only  a  very  few  years  before  my  visit  the  people  of  the 
city,  under  intelligent  and  enterprising  leaders,  resolved  to 
make  their  capital  worthy  of  its  natural  beauties. 

They  had  a  serious  job  before  them  for  in  order  to  con- 
struct the  Avenida  Centrale  alone,  the  chief  thoroughfare 
through  the  heart  of  the  city,  five  hundred  houses  and  stores 
of  all  descriptions  had  to  be  bought,  condemned  and  destroyed. 
They  were  taken  at  their  assessed  value,  and  many  a  tax- 
dodger,  who  had  for  years  paid  far  less  than  his  property  was 
worth,  found  that  it  sometimes  pays  to  be  honest. 

This  street  alone  shows  something  of  the  enterprise  and 
thoroughness  with  which  this  work  was  done.  It  is  a  mile 
and  an  eighth  long,  over  a  hundred  feet  wide,  and  lined  on 
either  side  with  artistic  and  often  truly  imposing  and  magnifi- 
cent buildings.  Forty-five  little  ovals  of  flowers  and  foliage 
plants,  with  one  Brazil  tree  springing  from  the  middle  of 
each  oval,  add  a  touch  of  natural  beauty  to  the  great  thorough- 
fare, while  at  night  the  ornamental  pillars  bearing  three  arc 
lights  in  each  oval,  make  the  street  almost  as  light  as  day. 
The  broad  sidewalks,  on  which  ten  people  can  walk  abreast,  are 
mosaics  of  black  and  white  flint  made  by  workmen  brought 
from  Portugal  for  the  purpose,  and  laid  after  the  Lisbon 
fashion. 

But  this  is  only  one  of  the  beautiful  streets.  The  roadway 
around  Gloria  Hill  to  Botfogo  is  equally  charming,  and  the 


358  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Monroe  Palace  of  pure  white  marble,  where  the  Pan-American 
Congress  has  held  its  meetings,  is  a  worthy  jewel  in  this  ring 
of  exquisite  avenues. 

A  sunrise  prayer  meeting  in  connection  with  the  meetings  in 
Rio  de  Janeiro  greatly  impressed  me.  We  gathered  in  the 
early  morning  on  top  of  Corcovado,  for  this  unique  service. 


Mt.  Corcovado  which  rises  from  the  City  of  Rio  de  Janeiro 
On  the  top  of  this  pointed  peak  the  Endeavorers  of  Rio  held  a  sunrise 

prayer  meeting. 

From  photograph  by  Mrs.  W.  F.  Chase  nee  Maude  Williston  Clark 

This  mountain  springs  almost  from  the  heart  of  the  city,  and 
is  connected  by  a  trolley  line  with  all  sections. 

From  the  harbor  side  Corcovado  looks  as  though  it  termi- 
nated in  a  needle  point,  but  when  we  reached  the  top  I  found 
that  there  was  a  little  plateau  on  which  perhaps  a  hundred 
people  could  stand.  The  view  was  magnificent  in  every 
direction.  The  great  Organ  Mountains,  and  the  striking  peak 
called  in  the  Portuguese  language,  "  The  Finger  of  God," 


THE    EAST    COAST    OF    SOUTH    AMERICA  359 

which  seemed  to  stretch  up  to  the  clouds,  enclosed  the  beautiful 
bay  on  the  farther  side,  while  the  great  city  of  a  million  in- 
habitants lying  at  our  feet  and  waking  in  the  early  dawn  to 
the  labors  of  a  new  day  added  a  touch  of  cosmopolitan  life 
to  the  scene. 

The  meeting  was  as  impressive  as  the  view,  as  one  after 
another  took  part  in  the  simple,  unstereotyped  way  that  En- 
deavorers  have.  Suddenly  the  sun,  which  had  just  risen, 
peered  around  the  elbow  of  one  of  the  eastern  mountains,  and, 
quite  spontaneously,  the  whole  congregation  joined  in  singing 
in  the  Portuguese  tongue  the  old  hymn  with  which  in  English 
we  are  so  familiar, 

"  The  morning  light  is  breaking, 
The  darkness  disappears." 

It  was  indeed  a  scene  and  a  meeting  long  to  be  remembered. 

Rio  de  Janerio,  like  Buenos  Ayres,  draws  much  of  the  wealth 
of  the  great  republic  to  itself.  This  is  unfortunate  for  both 
Brazil  and  Argentina  and  tends  to  make  these  cities  more  and 
more  the  only  centres  of  the  business  and  social  life  of  the 
republics.  It  seemed  to  me  that  both  cities  were  revelling  in 
new-found  wealth.  The  streets  of  Rio  had  just  been  made 
possible  for  automobiles,  and  there  was  a  constant  procession 
of  cars  through  the  well-paved  thoroughfare  of  the  capital, 
the  throttles  of  the  horns  constantly  open,  as  they  dashed 
along,  making  a  pandemonium  of  noise  which  the  Brazilians 
must  have  enjoyed  better  than  did  their  visitors,  ■ 

Sao  Paulo  is  a  populous  and  thriving  city,  and  seemed  more 
American,  or,  I  should  say  United  Statesian,  than  any  other 
that  I  saw  in  South  America.  It  is  an  educational  centre,  and 
one  of  the  finest  normal  schools  in  the  world  is  located  there, 
admittedly  built  on  models  furnished  by  our  own  country, 
which  sent  one  of  our  most  eminent  teachers,  a  Miss  Brown, 
to  establish  it.     Her  memory  is  revered  throughout  Brazil. 

The  most  interesting  journey  which  we  made  was  to  the 


360  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

heart  of  the  coffee  district,  some  five  hundred  miles  from  Rio. 
My  kind  friend,  Colonel  Feraz,  had  invited  me  and  a  dozen 
mutual  friends  to  visit  his  fazenda,  or  coffee  plantation  a  few 
miles  from  Jahu.  The  soil  is  the  color  of  brick  dust,  and  the 
roads  and  side,walks,  and  the  houses  where  the  water  of  the 
frequent  rains  had  splashed  upon  them,  were  all  red.  Even 
one's  linen,  one's  face  and  hair,  take  on  a  reddish  hue,  after 
a  short  ride  or  walk,  on  a  dusty  day. 

As  the  forty-niners  in  California  talked  nothing  but  gold, 
and  as  in  Kimberley  in  South  Africa,  you  hear  of  nothing  but 
diamonds,  so  in  Jahu  and  vicinity  they  not  only  raise  coffee 
and  sell  coffee,  but  drink  coffee  several  times  a  day,  talk  coffee, 
and  for  what  I  know,  dream  coffee  at  night.  The  Presbyterian 
pastor's  wife  in  Jahu  told  me  that  she  frequently  served  fifty 
cups  a  day  to  friends  and  neighbors  and  passers-by.  It  must 
be  added,  however,  that  the  cups  are  like  large  thimbles. 

When  within  about  a  mile  of  his  house,  our  host  modestly 
remarked,  "  These  are  my  trees."  We  were  driving  through 
an  avenue  of  glossy-leaved,  coffee  saplings,  the  size  of  a  small 
apple  tree.  "  How  many  trees  have  you?  "  we  asked.  And 
he  almost  took  away  our  breath  by  replying,  "  430,000." 

The  full-grown  tree  is  about  twelve  feet  in  height,  of  bushy 
and  rather  dense  growth,  and  the  coffee  berries  grow  on  the 
twigs  and  small  branches  close  to  the  wood.  In  May  they 
are  at  their  handsomest,  and  the  red  berries,  looking  for  all  the 
world  like  Cape  Cod  cranberries,  contrast  beautifully  with  thb 
glossy  leaves,  and  glow  like  rubies  in  their  dark  setting. 

I  am  tempted  to  linger  longer  on  the  many  novel  delights 
of  this  South  American  journey,  but  other  equally  interesting 
travels  that  are  to  follow,  remind  me  that  I  must  not  give 
disproportionate  space  to  this  one.  The  conventions  being 
over,  and  our  duties  accomplished  so  far  as  possible,  we 
naturally  had  to  struggle  with  the  question  of  how  to  get 
back  to  Boston. 

A  line  of  small  American  steamers  which  carried  a  few 


THE    EAST    COAST    OF    SOUTH    AMERICA  36 1 

passengers,  sailed  once  a  month,  but  not  being  able  to  wait 
for  the  next  steamer,  we  found  that  our  only  alternative  was 
to  take  an  English  steamer  for  Liverpool,  via  Lisbon,  Portugal, 
and  Corufia,  Spain,  and  thence  across  the  Atlantic  to  our  home 
port.  Since  the  war,  as  I  have  said  before,  communication  be- 
tween North  and  South  America  has  been  vastly  improved. 

One  bright  afternoon  we  bade  good-bye  to  Rev.  Eleazer  dos 
Sanctos  Saraiva,  the  energetic  secretary  of  the  Brazilian  as  well 
as  the  South  American  Union,  and  our  many  other  Endeavor 
friends,  and  took  passage  on  a  British  steamer  for  the  other 
side  of  the  Atlantic.  Our  steamer,  like  others  plying  between 
America  and  Europe  at  this  time  of  the  year  was  crowded  to 
the  limit  with  hundreds  of  Spanish  and  Italian  workmen  re- 
turning to  their  native  lands.  They  were  crowded  together 
in  a  shameful  way  and  the  steerage  accommodations  were  most 
wretched  and  dirty.  Hearing  that  there  was  a  man  dying  in 
the  steerage,  I  found  him  in  the  very  peak  of  the  ship,  where 
the  motion  was  excessive.  He  was  lying  on  a  miserable  cot, 
with  nothing  but  a  piece  of  bocking  between  him  and  the 
slats,  and  nobody  to  look  after  him  except  his  kindly  fellow 
passengers  of  the  wretched  steerage.  He  had  been  put  aboard 
the  ship  at  Valparaiso  by  heartless  relatives,  who,  knowing 
that  he  was  dying  of  consumption,  wished  to  get  rid  of  him, 
and  he  had  already  been  at  sea  several  weeks  in  these  dreadful 
conditions.  I  at  once  found  the  captain,  persuaded  him  to 
detail  a  steward  to  look  after  him  and  give  him  a  little  more 
comfort,  which  he  ought  to  have  done  without  any  persuasion. 
The  poor  fellow  died  the  next  day. 

We  stayed  in  Liverpool  just  long  enough  to  catch  a  steamer 
which  sailed  the  following  day.  This  voyage  I  remember  in 
part  because  of  the  churlishness  of  the  captain,  who  took  spe- 
cial delight  at  the  table  in  saying  uncomplimentary  things  about 
America  and  Americans,  and  who  often  monopolized  the 
shuffle-board  equipment  when  the  passengers  wished  to  play. 
However  he  must  be  forgiven  now  I  suppose,  because  his  good 


362  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

ship,  the  "  Devonian,"  was  one  of  the  many  in  which  I  have 
sailed,  including  the  "  Lusitania,"  which  succumbed  at  last  to 
a  German  submarine,  and  the  captain,  I  understand,  bore  him- 
self heroically  in  the  disaster. 

During  these  long  voyages  I  had  written  a  book  of  con- 
siderable size  about  South  America,  entitled  "  The  Continent 
of  Opportunity."  It  was  fully  illustrated,  and  was  received 
with  some  favor,  going  through  five  editions  in  the  next  ten 
years.  I  have  been  pleased  to  see  the  title  of  the  book  applied 
to  South  America  by  many  writers  since  it  was  published.  In 
missionary  circles  it  had  been  the  fashion  to  call  it  "  The 
Neglected  Continent."  To  my  mind  the  later  term  is  by  far 
the  better  one,  for  among  all  the  continents,  east  and  west  and 
north  and  south,  I  know  of  none  that  presents  vaster  oppor- 
tunities for  the  coming  centuries,  to  the  business  man,  the  wel- 
fare worker,  or  the  Christian  missionary. 


Chapter    XXXII 
Year  1908 

A  VARIED   YEAR 


AN    OLD    ENEMY AN    OLD    FRIEND  HORACE    FLETCHER 

FIFTY-ONE      PHOTOGRAPHS      IN      TWENTY-ONE      DAYS    

ENGLAND_,    SPAIN,    FRANCE,    SCANDINAVIA,    HOLLAND A 

CHURCH     SERVICE     IN     GRONINGEN  CARRIE     NATION^S 

HATCHET. 

O  MAN  that  is  born  of  woman  no  more  dis- 
tressing affliction  can  come  than  one  that 
centres  in  the  nerves.  The  heavens  above 
grow  black,  the  grasshopper  becomes  a 
burden,  and  all  desires  fail,  yet  the  sufferer 
receives  little  sympathy.  "  Only  a  matter  of 
nerves,"  his  friends  are  likely  to  say,  yet  a  serious  trouble  of 
the  heart  or  the  lungs,  or  a  broken  leg,  would  be  much  easier 
to  bear.  This  affliction  has  been  mine  several  times  owing  to 
overwork,  as  the  doctors  have  always  assured  mej  perhaps  it 
was  over-worry.  Whatever  the  cause  my  old  enemy  over- 
came me  again  in  1908,  and  once  more,  following  an  attack 
of  influenza,  I  was  the  victim  of  that  horrible  monster. 
Neurasthenia. 

The  first  six  or  seven  months  of  the  year  were  spent  in  the 
illusive  pursuit  of  health  at  Clifton  Springs  and  elsewhere, 
but  in  September  I  had  recovered  sufficiently  to  go  abroad,  and 
to  address  meetings  in  several  countries,  but  especially  in  the 
British  Christian  Endeavor  Increase  Campaign. 

An  interesting  friend  whom  I  met  for  the  first  time  on  this 
voyage  was  Horace  Fletcher,  the  dietitian,  who  has  the  some- 

3(^3 


364  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

what  unique  honor  of  having  his  name  made  into  a  common 
English  noun,  verb,  and  participle,  for  people  speak  of 
Fletcherism,  to  Fletcherize,  and  Fletcherizing.  He  was  a 
most  entertaining  mortal  and  we  had  many  a  long  steamer- 
deck  talk  about  his  speciality,  which  may  be  summed  up  in  a 
single  phrase,  "  Don't  eat  so  much,  but  eat  it  more." 

He  told  me  the  story  of  his  lifej  how,  at  fifty  years  of 
age,  he  was  completely  broken  down  because  of  over-indul- 
gence, like  many  another  hail  fellow,  in  the  so-called  "  good 
things"  of  life,  which  often  turn  out  to  be  the  worst  things. 
Not  that  he  was  especially  dissipated,  but  he  had  neglected 
his  health,  and  expected  a  premature  end. 

Then  he  began  seriously  to  study  the  situation  and  his  own 
habits,  and  to  learn  that  he  was  eating  too  much  and  not  eating 
it  enough  j  so,  being  a  man  of  resolution,  he  reduced  his  allow- 
ance, began  to  masticate  his  food  instead  of  bolting  it  and  soon 
not  only  regained  his  health,  but  was  able  to  rival  the  strong 
men  of  the  colleges,  testing  himself  with  men  who  were  thirty 
years  his  junior. 

He  took  incredible  bicycle  rides  before  breakfast.  He  re- 
duced his  weight  by  seventy  pounds  and  began  to  enjoy  life 
so  much  that  he  was  able  to  write  some  "  best  sellers  "  on 
"  Happiness  "  and  "  Menticulture,"  and  other  books  having 
to  do  with  what  he  called  "  Dietetic  Righteousness." 

I  remember  that  I  saw  him  afterwards  at  Chautauqua  when 
he  was  well  over  sixty  years  of  age,  and  he  could  then  turn  a 
double  somersault  from  a  spring-board  into  the  lake,  and  come 
up  as  fresh  and  smiling  as  a  boy  who  had  not  known  a  third 
of  his  years. 

I  found  out  afterwards  that  he  was  in  Dartmouth  College 
for  a  few  weeks  during  his  freshman  year,  but  was  soon  lured 
away  by  his  adventurous  spirit  to  China  and  Japan,  where  he 
became  a  crack  rifle  shot,  and  taught  some  of  the  future  eminent 
generals  of  Japan  how  to  shoot  from  the  shoulder,  an  art  on 
which  he  wrote  a  standard  treatise.     On  account  of  his  early 


A    VARIED    YEAR  365 

connection  with  Dartmouth,  and  his  subsequent  interesting  and 
adventurous  life,  the  trustees  accepted  a  suggestion  from  me, 
and  conferred  upon  him,  greatly  to  his  joy,  the  degree  of  A.M. 
more  than  forty  years  after  he  had  unceremoniously  left  the 
college  halls. 

The  Christian  Endeavor  World  took  up  his  propaganda  with 
enthusiasm  and  he  became  a  regular  contributor,  and  many 
of  my  friends,  as  well  as  myself,  can  testify  to  the  value  of 
Fletcherism.  His  theories,  good  as  I  believe  they  are,  did 
not  greatly  prolong  his  own  life,  for  he  died  at  the  age  of 
sixty-nine,  in  Europe,  in  war  time,  while  telling  the  half- 
starved  people  how  to  make  a  little  food  go  a  long  way.  Per- 
haps the  war  if  not  a  bullet  killed  him  as  it  did  so  many  mil- 
lions of  others. 

We  landed  in  Italy,  and,  after  a  brief  holiday  there  and  in 
Switzerland,  I  engaged  in  a  six  weeks'  Increase  Campaign  in 
the  United  Kingdom,  a  campaign  which  was  modeled  after  the 
successful  efFort  of  the  same  sort  which  had  so  largely  increased 
the  number  of  American  societies. 

Grimsby,  Cleveland,  Bristol,  Sheffield,  Manchester,  Wrex- 
ham, Worcester,  London,  Norwich,  Glasgow,  and  Edinburgh 
were  among  the  score  or  more  of  cities  reached  on  this  my  tenth 
visit  to  Great  Britain. 

During  my  tour  through  the  United  Kingdom  Mrs.  Clark 
stayed  in  London,  near  the  British  Museum,  whither  I  was 
able  occasionally  to  return  for  a  day  or  two.  She  was  engaged 
in  writing  a  book  entitled  "  The  Gospel  in  Latin  Lands  "  for 
the  Central  Committee  for  the  United  Study  of  Missions. 
To  this  book  I  contributed  some  chapters  on  South  America. 

Synchronously  with  the  campaign  in  Great  Britain  Th^ 
British  Weekly  printed  a  bitter  attack  on  Christian  Endeavor 
from  the  pen  of  an  anonymous  Congregational  mmister,  and 
then  opened  its  columns  to  the  experiences  of  ministers  -pro 
and  cony  evidently,  from  its  editorials,  desiring  the  con  rather 
than  the  fro. 


366  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

The  editor  soon  confessed  that  enough  mniisters  had  re- 
sponded to  fill  several  numbers  of  that  large  paper.  Page 
after  page  of  comments  appeared  for  five  or  six  weeks,  but 
only  six  or  seven  of  them  were  adverse  criticisms,  and  as  some- 
one said,  "  in  every  instance  of  adverse  criticism,  the  author 
preferred  to  blush  unseen  behind  the  prudent  veil  of  anony- 
mity." The  great  majority  of  replies,  however,  were  favor- 
able, and  none  who  wrote  thus  were  unwilling  to  sign  their 
names,  many  of  which  were  known  in  America  as  well  as  in 
Europe.     Thus  the  first  attack  turned  out  to  be  a  boomerang. 

Photographers  were  busy  on  this  trip  as  usual,  and  my  note- 
book records  fifty-one  group  pictures  in  twenty-one  places,  in 
six  weeks. 

Our  visit  to  Spain  in  this  year  was  of  interest  because  it  was 
just  ten  years  after  the  Spanish-American  War,  and  I  took 
special  pains  to  learn  whether  any  feeling  of  enmity  still 
existed  among  the  people  against  the  Republic  which  had  so 
speedily  vanquished  the  Spanish  fleet  and  army.  I  could  find 
no  signs  of  rancor  or  animosity  among  the  people  whom  I 
met,  and  I  was  assured  that  the  Spaniards  generally  had 
settled  down  to  the  opinion  that  few  better  things  had  ever 
happened  to  their  country  than  the  Spanish-American  war. 

The  Endeavor  convention  in  Barcelona  was  an  immense 
success.  From  Madrid  and  Saragoza,  from  Seville  and 
Bilbao,  from  San  Sebastian  and  the  Balearic  Isles,  came  the 
Endeavorers  with  their  banners,  many  of  them  of  exceeding 
beauty,  and  the  whole  convention  was  full  of  life  and  color. 

Other  meetings  I  attended  in  Holland,  France,  and  Scandi- 
navia, I  recall  particularly  a  church  service  in  Groningen,  Hol- 
land, where  I  went  to  address  the  students  of  the  university. 
The  visit  seemed  to  take  us  back  into  the  past  centuries.  Here 
and  there  in  the  great  church  was  a  grande  dame  of  the  old 
regime,  who  wore  the  gold  or  silver  headdress  of  ancient  times, 
a  close-fitting  skull-cap  of  gold  for  the  back  of  the  head,  and 
above  the  ears,  ornaments  which  looked  like  small  mirrors. 


A    VARIED    YEAR  367 

After  the  Scripture-reading  and  prayer  the  minister  began 
his  sermon.  The  text  was  pointed  out  to  us  in  a  huge  Dutch 
Bible  as  big  as  a  Webster's  dictionary,  a  Bible  which  had  been 
printed  more  than  a  century  before.  All  of  my  seatmates 
in  the  pews  near-by  followed  the  reading  of  the  preacher  in 
equally  large  and  ancient  tomes,  printed  in  the  old  German 
characters  which  have  not  been  commonly  useci  in  Holland 
for  many  years. 

After  the  minister  had  been  speaking  for  about  ten  minutes 
he  stopped  and  gave  out  another  Psalm.  During  the  singing 
a  boy  took  down  two  very  long  handled  collection  bags,  and 
held  them  up,  solemnly,  while  the  collectors  first  deposited 
their  offerings,  thus  setting  a  good  example  to  the  rest  of  the 
congregation.  Then  they  went  their  rounds,  each  one  clad  in 
an  immaculate  dress  suit,  swallow-tail  coat,  white  necktie,  and 
black  gloves,  for  it  is  no  ordinary  function  to  take  up  a  collec- 
tion in  a  Dutch  church. 

In  fact  there  was  not  one  collection  but  three,  with  no  inter- 
mission between  them.  The  Psalm  was  finished  and  the 
minister  began  what  seemed  to  be  the  second  part  of  his 
sermon,  but  still  the  collections  went  on.  For  fully  half  an 
hour  the  collectors  quietly  went  their  rounds,  taking  up  one 
offering  for  the  poor,  then  one  for  church  expenses,  and 
still  another  for  missions,  and  every  man,  woman  and  child 
within  the  range  of  my  vision  put  in  something  every  time. 

After  the  collection  the  minister  gave  out  another  Psalm, 
and  then  seemed  to  continue  his  sermon  for  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes  more.  During  the  sermon  one  man  after  another 
put  on  his  hat,  but  did  not  go  out.  One  particularly  tall, 
shiny  hat  in  front  of  me  unpleasantly  challenged  my  attention. 
Then  one  and  another  would  stand  up  and  stretch  his  legs, 
and  after  standing  for  perhaps  ten  or  fifteen  minutes,  would 
quietly  resume  his  seat.  Yet  in  spite  of  these  distractions,  and 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  I  could  only  understand  an  occasional 
word  of  the  sermon,  I  felt  the  solemnity  and  sincerity  of  the 


368  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

service  and,  doubtless,  could  I  have  understood  the  preacher 
and  known  more  of  the  customs  of  the  church,  some  of  the 
oddities  that  I  observed  would  have  seemed  less  striking. 

On  my  return  to  America  I  was  able  to  enter  heartlily  into  a 
great  evangelistic  campaign  in  Boston  under  the  leadership  of 
Dr.  J.  Wilbur  Chapman,  whom  I  regarded  as  one  of  the  two 
greatest  evangelists  5  Gypsy  Smith,  in  my  opinion,  being  one 
of  the  few  to  compare  with  him  for  ability,  real  eloquence, 
and  in  securing  lasting  results. 

The  National  Endeavor  convention  in  St.  Paul  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1909  kept  up  the  high  reputation  of  its  predecessors. 
On  one  of  the  convention  days  a  stand  had  been  erected  on 
the  State-House  grounds  for  an  open-air  meeting  with  ad- 
dresses by  Hon.  W.  J.  Bryan  and  Governor  Johnson,  then 
very  popular  in  Minnesota,  who  died  not  long  after,  mourned 
by  all  who  knew  him. 

An  amusing  incident  occurred  while  the  speaking  was  going 
on.  When  I  went  to  the  temporary  platform  to  introduce  the 
speakers,  I  had  handed  to  Mrs.  Clark  the  gavel  of  Minnesota 
pipestone,  ornamented  with  Minnesota  copper,  which  had  been 
given  me  by  the  convention  committee.  It  was  in  the  shape 
of  a  miniature  tomahawk,  and  while  she  was  holding  it  a  lady 
standing  near-by  said  to  her,  "  Excuse  me.  Madam,  but  are 
you  Carrie  Nation?  "  The  redoubtable  "  Carrie  "  was  then 
at  the  height  of  her  fame  as  a  saloon-smashing  temperance 
propagandist,  famous  for  her  "  hatchet,"  and  the  mistake  was 
perhaps  not  unnatural  as  the  woman  looked  at  the  gavel,  but 
it  afforded  material  for  much  family  fun  in  after  days.  It 
Was  all  the  more  amusing  as  Mrs.  Clark  is  by  no  means  an 
Amazon,  nor  a  woman  of  belligerent  manners. 

At  this  convention  another  most  successful  "  Increase  Cam- 
paign "  was  launched  which  brought  in  the  course  of  two  years 
a  million  young  people  into  the  Endeavor  movement.  Never 
did  the  young  people  take  up  more  enthusiastically  any  sug- 
gestion I  ever  made  than  this  one.     Their  eager  willingness 


A    VARIED    YEAR  369 

to  respond  to  any  appeal  that  commends  itself  to  their  common- 
sense,  however  much  labor  it  involves,  has  always  been  a  pe- 
culiar joy  to  me.  Indeed  the  harder  the  work  proposed,  the 
more  eagerly  they  take  it  up.  Young  Christians  do  not  seek 
soft  seats  or  easy  tasks.  I  fear  I  have  made  such  a  remark 
before,  but  I  have  been  tempted  to  make  it  still  oftener.  No 
one  knows  how  much  I  have  had  to  blot.  By  this  time  another 
journey  around  the  world  began  to  loom  large  upon  the 
horizon,  but  this  unusually  interesting  journey  must  be  the 
theme  of  another  chapter. 


Chapter   XXXIII 
Years  1909— i  910 

AROUND  THE  WORLD  IN  FOUR  MONTHS 

PART   I 

AGRA      1909 "600     AMERICAN      MILLIONAIRES" TRAVEL 

TALKS       AND        LECTURES THE        TAJ        MAHAL THE 

PRAISES    OF    THE     NATIONS A    CONSECRATION     SERVICE 

BY  LANGUAGES OUR  "  ROUND-TOP  "   MEETING. 


HE  journey  of  which  I  am  about  to  tell 
differed  from  other  round-the-world  jour- 
neys which  I  had  taken,  in  that  Mrs.  Clark 
and  I  were  two  members  of  a  considerable 
party  on  the  same  object  bent,  and  also  in 
that  instead  of  taking  several  different 
Steamers  from  country  to  country,  as  on  other  journeys,  one 
ship,  the  Hamburg-American  Liner,  "  Cleveland,"  carried  us 
all  the  way  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco,  thus  entirely 
encircling  the  globe  with  the  exception  of  the  width  of  the 
American  continent.  This  was  the  first  of  the  famous  round- 
the-world-tours  inaugurated  by  the  company,  and  was  under 
the  charge  of  the  well-known  American  excursion-manager, 
Frank  G.  Clark. 

The  big  steamer  was  crowded  from  stem  to  stern  with  650 
passengers.  Even  the  steerage  department  had  been  made 
over  into  "  first-class  "  rooms  for  the  occasion.  All  were  first- 
class  passengers  and  shared  the  same  fare  in  the  common 
dining-rooms,  and  the  price  of  tickets  varied  according  to  the 
accommodations.     The  trip  was  widely  advertised,  and  the 

370 


AROUND    THE    WORLD    IN    FOUR    MONTHS  37 1 

number  of  American  passengers  travelling  together,  all  of 
whom  were  reputed  to  be  "  millionaires,"  created  much 
interest  and  excitement  at  every  port  where  we  landed.  The 
excursion  on  this  huge  scale  was  considered  a  great  success, 
though,  because  of  the  war,  it  was  not  many  times  repeated 
in  after  days. 

The  reason  that  our  particular  party  joined  the  excursion 
was  that  it  aiforded  a  comfortable  and  moderately  economical 
method  of  attending  the  fourth  World's  Christian  Endeavor 
Convention,  which  was  held  in  Agra,  India.  It  also  enabled 
all  who  wished  to  go,  not  only  to  attend  the  convention,  but 
to  encompass  the  globe  at  an  expense  scarcely  more  than  the 
journey  to  India  alone  would  have  cost.  As  a  consequence, 
nearly  fifty  Endeavorers  and  their  friends  sailed  one  bright 
October  day  from  Ne,w  York. 

In  our  especial  party  were  General-Secretary  Shaw  of  the 
United  Society,  Treasurer  Lathrop  and  his  wife,  two  or  three 
ministers,  and  a  number  of  veterans  of  the  Christian  Endeavor 
army.  Not  many  young  people,  however,  could  afford  the 
expense  of  the  trip.  We  found  many  sympathetic  friends 
among  the  other  passengers  and  formed  many  pleasant 
acquaintances. 

Several  other  Endeavorers  bound  for  Agra  joined  us  in 
Egypt.  At  least  half  a  dozen  books  of  greater  or  less  merit 
afterward  recorded  our  adventures  j  most  of  them  first  saw 
the  light  in  the  country  papers  to  which  our  fellow-passengers 
contributed. 

There  were  both  advantages  and  disadvantages  in  this 
wholesale  method  of  seeing  the  world.  The  chief  disadvan- 
tage was  that  everybody  on  board  wished  to  see  the  same 
things  at  the  same  time,  and  there  was  consequently  a  great 
congestion  as  the  gang  planks  were  thro.wn  out  at  different 
ports,  and  also  at  certain  points  of  interest  in  the  various 
scheduled  excursions  on  land. 

However,  on  the  whole,  the  plans  were  carefully  laid  and 


372  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

admirably  carried  out,  and  there  were  positive  advantages  in 
the  fact  that  special  pains  were  taken  to  open  all  places  of 
interest  to  the  tourists,  and  every  city  visited  was  in  its  best 
clothes  and  on  its  best  behaviour,  to  attract  as  many  dollars 
as  possible  from  the  pockets  of  the  "  American  millionaires." 
Many  cities  were  gaily  decorated  with  banners  and  emblems 
and  triumphal  arches  of  welcome.  The  shops  were  filled 
with  the  largest  assortment  of  the  most  costly  goods,  and 
prices  had  soared  to  a  dizzy  height  in  anticipation  of  the 
expected  harvest.  When  we  visited  the  shops  in  Yokohama, 
Tokyo,  and  Kyoto  a  few  years  later,  we  found  a  far  smaller 
variety  of  goods  to  tempt  the  foreigner  and  prices  consider- 
ably more  moderate. 

The  journey  was  also  made  of  much  educational  value  to 
many  by  frequent  lectures  and  "travel  talks  "  by  those  of  us 
who  had  studied  up  particular  countries,  or  had  been  over  the 
route  before. 

We  touched  briefly  at  Funchal,  Madeira,  at  Gibraltar, 
Naples,  and  had  a  few  days  in  Cairo  on  our  way  to  Bombay. 
At  nearly  every  port  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco,  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  meetings  were  held,  often  attended  by  large 
numbers,  while  the  Sunday  services  on  the  steamer  crowded  the 
large  dining-hall  saloon,  and  were  apparently  thoroughly  en- 
joyed by  all.  Most  of  the  passengers,  including  the  Christian 
Endeavor  party,  left  the  steamer  at  Bombay,  and  made  their 
way  overland  to  Calcutta,  while  the  "  Cleveland "  went 
around  the  great  peninsula  and  picked  up  its  living  freight  of 
Americans  on  the  eastern  shore  of  India. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  relate  that  the  Cleveland  being  the 
largest  ship  that  up  to  that  time  had  gone  through  the  Suez 
Canal,  the  passage  was  a  somewhat  precarious  one.  Once  the 
big  ship  touched  bottom,  but  as  all  the  passengers  had  gone 
ashore  at  Port  Said  and  did  not  go  on  board  again  until  she 
reached  Suez,  her  burden  had  been  lightened  enough  for 
her  to  barely  pull  through.  The  toll  extorted  by  the  Canal 
management  for  this  little  trip  of  a  few  miles  was  $25,000. 


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AROUND    THE    WORLD    IN    FOUR    MONTHS  377 

It  would  be  interesting,  did  space  allow,  to  dwell  on  the 
cordial  welcome-meeting  in  Bombay,  and  to  tell  of  other 
meetings  and  receptions,  and  the  visits  to  Jeypore  and  Delhi, 
to  Cawnpore  and  Lucknow  and  Benares,  but  the  great  gather- 
ings in  Agra  overshadow  in  my  memory  the  lesser  meetings 
and  receptions. 

The  Agra  convention  was  undoubtedly  in  many  respects  the 
most  remarkable  gathering  of  any  kind  ever  held  on  foreign 
missionary  soilj  — remarkable  for  its  numbers,  its  enthusiasm, 
and  the  perfection  of  its  arrangements  in  all  details.  The  vice- 
regal government  of  India  contributed  its  whole  encampment, 
consisting  of  several  hundred  tents,  besides  two  great  audience 
tents,  holding  two  thousand  people  each,  an  immense  restau- 
rant-tent, and  another  large  one  for  the  sale  of  literature. 
Not  only  was  this  enormous  encampment  contributed  by  the 
government  free  of  charge,  but  it  was  freely  transported  from 
Calcutta  to  Agra,  nearly  a  thousand  miles.  Moreover  the 
viceregal  government  put  us  under  further  obligation  by 
contributing  the  use  of  Macdonald  Park,  a  little  outside  of  the 
native  city  of  Agra,  and  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the 
Taj  Mahal,  which  all  artists  admit  is  the  most  absolutely  per- 
fect specimen  of  architecture  on  the  face  of  the  globe. 

On  the  morning  of  our  arrival  at  the  grounds  we  were  met 
by  a  throng  of  native  Endeavorers  who  hung  garlands  of 
flowers  around  our  necks  and  greeted  us  with  songs  and  ad- 
dresses of  welcome.  Some  of  these  natives  had  come  long 
distances  at  large  expense,  like  the  delegation  of  more  than  a 
hundred  from  Burma,  who  had  travelled  some  1,500  miles 
by  land  and  sea.  Others  who  could  not  afford  railway  fare 
had  walked,  some  for  a  week,  to  get  to  the  convention,  bring- 
ing their  scanty  outfit  and  cooking  their  chupratties  on  the  way 
in  a  hole  in  the  ground  in  lieu  of  a  kitchen  range. 

Some  of  these  parties  of  young  native  Christians  made  a 
genuine  evangelistic  tour  of  their  journey  to  the  convention 
and  return,  holding  meetings  in  different  towns  and  villages 


378  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS   , 

on  the  way,  and  coming  to  the  convention,  as  can  be  imagined, 
in  the  full  glow  of  religious  ardor.  Not  less  than  4,000 
native  delegates  and  four  hundred  missionaries  attended  the 
meetings,  and  at  least  a  dozen  foreign  countries  were  repre- 
sented by  missionaries  or  other  delegates. 

Many  of  the  meetings  were  peculiarly  inspiring.  I  recall 
with  special  emotion  the  great  song  service,  where  the 
"  Praises  of  the  Nations  "  were  rendered  in  a  most  elaborate 
and  appropriate  programme.  The  praises  of  Europe  and 
America,  of  Asia  and  Africa,  of  ancient  and  modern  times 
as  they  were  sung,  led  us  to  understand  as  never  before  the 
Psalmist's  command,  "  Let  everything  that  hath  breath  praise 
the  Lord." 

On  account  of  the  difficulties  of  language,  two  simultane- 
ous meetings  were  usually  held,  one  tent  accommodating 
those  who  understood  English,  while  in  the  other  Hindostani 
was  spoken.  There  were  representatives  of  more  than  thirty 
languages  in  that  cosmopolitan  throng,  and  when  the  conse- 
cration meeting  was  held  all  united  in  one  great  audience  to 
renew  their  vows  of  allegiance  and  reaffirm  their  pledge  of 
service. 

There  was  only  one  way  in  which  the  roll-call  in  such  a 
consecration  meeting  could  be  conducted,  and  that  was  by 
calling  the  list  of  languages.  As  it  fell  to  my  lot  to  conduct 
this  meeting,  I  asked  each  group  giving  its  testimony  in  song 
or  word  to  speak  in  the  tongue  in  which  its  members  were 
born,  however  many  other  languages  they  might  have 
acquired.  So  in  Hindi  and  Hindostani,  in  Bengali  and 
Marathi,  in  Tamil  and  Telugu,  in  Burmese  and  Karen,  and 
in  twenty  other  languages  the  responses  came.  Sometimes  a 
great  company  would  stand  together  when  the  language  hap- 
pened to  be  the  native  tongue  of  many.  At  other  times  only 
two  or  three  or  a  half  dozen  stood  together  while,  when  the 
Thibetan  tongue  was  called,  only  one  solitary  individual  arose 
to  tell  of  his  devotion  to  the  Master.     Of  course  the  Euro- 


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AROUND    THE    WORLD    IN    FOUR    MONTHS  38 1 

pean  languages  were  not  omitted,  and  responses  came  in 
French  and  English,  Spanish  and  Swedish,  in  German  and 
Norwegian,  from  this  wonderful  cosmopolitan  throng. 

There  were  many  scenes  of  exceeding  picturesqueness. 
One  Endeavorer  had  come  on  his  camel,  still  another  had 
come  on  a  borrowed  elephant,  and  though  most  of  the  native 
converts  were  poor  and  from  the  humbler  castes,  some  fair- 
skinned  high-caste  Brahmins  were  in  the  throng,  and  at  least 
one  high  native  official  with  his  wife  and  daughters  who  were 
bespangled  with  gold  and  jewels  to  a  surprising  extent. 

The  marvellous  attractions  of  the  Taj  Mahal,  the  Pearl 
Mosque,  and  the  vast  Sandstone  Fort  in  which  ten  thousand 
soldiers  might  get  lost  were  not  neglected,  yet  the  delegates 
stuck  with  wonderful  persistence  to  the  convention  during 
all  the  sessions.  Manv  of  the  most  eminent  missionaries  of 
India  were  present,  like  William  Carey  the  third,  of  whom  I 
have  before  spoken,  Dr.  Herbert  Anderson  of  Calcutta,  Dr. 
Robert  Hume  of  Ahmednager,  Bishop  Warne  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Mr.  Bandy  and  Mr.  McGaw 
of  the  Presbyterian  Mission,  and  nearly  a  score  of  well- 
known  missionaries  from  Burma.  Indeed  it  is  useless 
to  attempt  to  mention  all  who  helped  make  this  meeting 
what  it  was,  lest  my  pages  become  a  mere  catalogue  of  names. 
This  was  my  third  view  of  the  Taj,  and  each  visit  has  im- 
pressed me  more  than  the  last  with  its  unique  majesty  and 
beauty.  Whether  seen  in  blazing  mid-day  sunlight,  in  the 
dusk  of  twilight,  or  under  the  full  Indian  moon,  no  flaws 
can  be  detected  in  this  marvellous  piece  of  human  handicraft. 
One  day  the  delegates  to  the  convention  went  in  procession 
to  have  their  pictures  taken  in  the  beautiful  garden  which 
fronts  the  main  entrance  to  the  Taj,  and  thither  Mrs.  Clark 
and  I  were  borne  at  the  request  of  the  Endeavorer  who 
boasted  an  elephant,  on  the  back  of  his  huge  beast.  There 
was  no  ladder  by  which  to  climb  to  our  seats,  and  no  howdah 
to  which  to  hold,  and  it  was  a  most  precarious  journey,  though 


382  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

fortunately  a  short  one,  from  the  park  to  the  entrance  of  the 
great  Tomb.  We  succeeded  in  scrambling  up  the  mountain- 
ous elephant  and  in  holding  on  to  each  other  and  to  one  or 
two  other  members  of  the  party,  who  essayed  the  slippery 
bareback  trip  with  us. 

One  of  the  most  impressive  meetings  of;  the  convention 
was  not  scheduled  on  the  programme.  In  fact  it  did  not  take 
place  until  the  convention  had  formally  adjourned.  It  was 
hours  before  the  tents  could  all  be  struck,  and  the  thousands 
of  pieces  of  furniture  be  carried  out  on  the  backs  of  coolies, 
so  that  many  were  detained  for  a  whole  day  after  the  meet- 
ings closed.  Early  in  the  morning  of  that  supplementary 
day,  several  hundreds  of  us  found  our  way  to  a  little  rise  of 
ground  just  outside  of  the  encampment,  which  we  called  our 
"  Round  Top,"  for  a  closing  sunrise  service.  It  was  in  the 
delicious  cool  of  the  Indian  morning  before  the  burning  sun 
appeared. 

Dr.  Shaw  had  discovered  on  the  top  of  the  hill  a  rude 
cross  made  of  two  straws,  which  a  native  Christian  had  evi- 
dently placed  there  at  his  morning  devotions.  Dr.  William 
Carey,  who  had  charge  of  this  meeting,  turned  this  to  good 
account.  With  all  the  wisdom  and  fervor  of  his  great  grand- 
father, he  held  this  little  cross  in  his  hand,  and  pointing  to 
the  magnificent  Taj  which  loomed  up  in  all  its  glory,  ap- 
parently but  a  few  rods  away,  he  spoke  somewhat  as  follows: 
"  Yonder  is  the  noblest  memorial  of  human  love,  the  love 
of  man  for  woman,  of  the  Great  Mogul  for  his  beloved 
Empress,  but  here  in  my  hand  I  hold  the  supreme  symbol  of 
Divine  Lovej  no  vast  mausoleum  of  marble  and  precious 
stones,  but  a  simple  cross,  reminding  us  that  He  died  for  man- 
kind, and  that  '  The  way  of  the  Cross  leads  home.'  " 

Thus  ended  this  memorable  convention,  but  I  should  not  be 
doing  justice  to  those  who  made  it  such  a  success  did  I  not 
pay  a  brief  word  of  tribute  to  Rev.  Herbert  Halliwell,  Gen- 
eral Secretary  of  the  Indian  Christian  Endeavor  Union,  and 


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51 

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AROUND    THE    WORLD    IN    FOUR    MONTHS  385 

the    committee    who    labored    untiringly    with    him    for    the 
success  of  the  meetings. 

All  went  away  feeling  not  only  that  a  genuine  inspiration 
had  been  received,  but  that  a  permanent  impression  had  been 
made  by  the  Christian  forces  of  India,  a  view  borne  out  by  the 
rapid  growth  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  societies  in  the 
Empire  in  the  years  after  "Agra  1909." 


Chapter    XXXIV 
Year  1910 

AROUND   THE   WORLD    IN    FOUR    MONTHS 

PART    II 

j^YA THE     WILD      MEN      OF      BORNEO OPEN      HOUSE      IN 

THE     PHILIPPINES TROUBLOUS     CHINA HOSPITABLE 

JAPAN BEAUTIFUL  HONOLULU HOME  AGAIN. 

IHEN  the  serious  business  of  the  convention 
was  over  the  delegates  felt  at  liberty  to  take 
as  many  excursions  as  the  time  at  their  dis- 
posal would  permit.  One  o£  the  most  in- 
teresting of  these  was  to  the  deserted  city 
of  Fatehpur-Sikri,  about  twenty  miles  from 
Agra.  It  seems  marvellous  that  a  splendid  city  should  be 
deserted  for  hundreds  of  years  and  yet  show  so  few  signs 
of  decay,  but  in  the  marvellous  climate  of  India  the  tooth  of 
time  does  not  seem  to  gnaw  stone  and  mortar  as  in  other 
lands.  For  this  reason,  the  Taj,  though  built  four  hundred 
years  ago,  is  as  perfect  and  untarnished  as  when  it  came  from 
the  hands  of  its  great  architect. 

It  is  still  more  wonderful  that  Fatehpur-Sikri  should  have 
been  deserted  at  all  while  its  forts  and  its  palaces,  its  sultana 
houses  and  even  its  mint  and  its  splendid  mosque  were  still 
intact.  The  chief  mosque  is  still  in  a  wonderful  state  of 
preservation,  and  is  said  to  be  a  copy  of  the  famous  mosque 
at  Mecca.  Fatehpur-Sikri  was  built  by  the  great  Emperor 
Akbar,  at  the  behest  of  a  Mohammedan  hermit-saint  who 
lived  in  a  cave  near-by.     Upon  obeying  the  saint,  the  great 

386 


AROUND    THE    WORLD    IN    FOUR    MONTHS  387 

desire  of  his  life  was  granted,  and  a  son  and  heir  was  born, 
who  afterwards  became  the  Emperor  Jehangir,  who  sur- 
passed Akbar  himself  in  fame  and  glory. 

Jeypore,  Delhi,  Cawnpore,  each  had  their  own  points  of 
special  interest.  The  physical  and  moral  filth  of  Benares  and 
its  hundreds  of  pilgrims  bathing  in  the  germ-laden  waters  of 
the  Ganges,  anci  the  dead  pilgrims  sizzling  on  the  burning 
ghats  on  its  banks  seemed  to  aflFord  a  weird  fascination  for 
some  of  our  fellow  travellers. 

Reaching  Burma  we  did  not  go  far  "  on  the  road  to  Manda- 
lay,"  but  lingered  for  a  few  days  in  Rangoon  and  Insein, 
where  the  Christian  Endeavor  meetings  were  only  second  in 
importance  to  those  in  Agra.  Here  the  Baptists  have  a  re- 
markably fruitful  work  which  extends  far  into  the  interior 
of  Burma  and  to  the  borders  of  Siam.  An  audience  of  2,000 
people  was  easily  gathered  in  one  of  their  great  halls,  for  no 
mission  has  been  more  hospitable  to  Christian  Endeavor  than 
this.  The  success  of  missionaries  had  stirred  up  the  Buddhists 
to  new  activities,  and  to  enthusiastic  worship.  The  great 
Shwe  Dagon  Pagoda,  the  real  world  centre  of  Buddhism, 
seemed  most  popular,  and  the  Buddhist  propaganda  was  re- 
markably active.  The  colporteurs  of  the  "  Buddhist  Tract 
Society  "  distributed  literature  in  English  to  us,  deriding 
Christianity  and  praising  Buddhism,  and  I  was  told  that  a 
Buddhist  Endeavor  society  had  also  been  started  to  counteract 
the  influence  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

Our  excursion-manager  had  provided  for  us  as  many  breaks 
in  the  long  journey  from  India  to  China  as  could  be  managed, 
and  we  made  interesting  stops  at  such  seldom-visited  places 
as  Batavia  in  Java  and  Labuan  in  British  North  Borneo. 

In  the  beautiful  city  of  Batavia  the  excursionists  were  wel- 
comed by  hundreds  of  pleasant-faced  Javanese,  who  all 
seemed  as  jolly  as  sand-boys.  A  large  number  of  odci  little 
carriages  drawn  by  diminutive  ponies  came  to  the  station  to 
transport  the  passengers  to  the  sights  of  the  city.     The  early 


388  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

drivers  very  carefuily  picked  for  the  lean  and  hungry  Cassius- 
like  people  of  the  party,  leaving  the  well-fed  and  rotund  for 
the  cabbies  who  came  later.  We  understood  the  reason  for 
this  partiality  when  a  very  stout  lady,  climbing  into  the  back 
of  the  little  chaise,  almost  lifted  the  pony  from  his  feet  as 
she  weighed  down  the  back  end,  much  to  the  amusement  of 
her  fellow-passengers. 

The  neat,  well-trimmed  gardens  of  Batavia,  the  charming 
country  residences,  the  canals  by  the  roadside  all  reminded  us 
of  Holland,  for  the  rulers  of  Java  had  evidently  brought 
their  Dutch  ideas  of  order  and  cleanliness  with  them,  greatly 
to  the  benefit  of  the  native  race. 

At  Labuan  "  the  wild  men  of  Borneo  "  had  been  imported, 
from  nobody  knew  where,  for  the  delectation  of  the  tourists. 
I  suspect  that  their  bushy  hair  and  beards  had  been  allowed  to 
grow  long  for  the  occasion  j  that  they  were  dressed  in  a  garb 
that  looked  as  fantastic  to  them  as  to  us,  and  that  they  were 
instructed  to  roar  in  a  wild  and  passionate  way  as  they  per- 
formed the  Dance  of  the  Head-Hunters.  No  doubt  in  pri- 
vate life  we  should  have  found  these  actors  very  tame  and 
peaceable  individuals,  and  possibly  excellent  citizens,  but  they 
did  their  best  to  live  up  to  the  expectations  of  the  tourists,  and 
to  our  boyhood  traditions  of  the  wild  men  of  Borneo. 

At  Manila  we  found  the  town  wide  open,  not  in  the  offen- 
sive bibulous  sense,  though  doubtless  plenty  of  booze  could 
have  been  found,  but  wide  open  in  its  hospitality  to  the  great- 
est crowd  of  fellow-Americans  who  had  ever  visited  its  hospi- 
table shores  since  our  occupation  of  the  island. 

The  street-car  conductors  would  take  no  fares  from  the 
tourists,  the. restaurants  furnished  free  lunches  on  certain  occa- 
sions, and  I  am  almost  inclined  to  remember  that  the  waiters 
would  take  no  tips,  though  at  this  distance  of  time  that  seems 
quite  improbable. 

I  was  much  impressed  with  the  progress  that  the  island 
had  made  during  the  few  short  years  they  had  been  under  the 


AROUND    THE    WORLD    IN    FOUR    MONTHS  389 

care  of  our  government.  The  splendid  roads,  the  good 
schools  taught  by  teachers  who  are  thoroughly  interested  in 
their  work,  and  the  swarms  of  bright-eyed  little  Filipino 
pupils  showed  what  could  be  done  for  backward  races  in  a 
very  short  time.  However  I  am  glad  to  know  that  the  benev- 
olent despotism  of  that  period  has  gradually  given  way  to  a 
larger  and  larger  participation  of  the  native  peoples  in  the 
government  of  their  own  country,  and  I  trust  that  before  long 
it  will  be  wise  and  possible  for  us  to  redeem  our  early  prom- 
ises and  make  the  islands  a  free  and  independent  nation. 

In  these  islands,  as  well  as  in  all  other  parts  of  the  un- 
civilized or  half-civilized  parts  of  the  globe  that  I  have 
visited,  the  missionaries  have  had  the  largest  share  in  the  up- 
lift of  the  people.  Some  of  the  brightest  pages  of  American 
history  have  been  written  by  the  missionaries  who  have  gone 
to  the  PWilippines,  and  in  many  parts  of  them  they  are  still 
the  one  great  leavening  and  uplifting  force. 

China,  though  the  biggest  country  of  all  which  we  visited 
on  this  journey,  received  for  various  reasons  the  scantiest 
attention.  The  periodical  political  troubles  which  have  racked 
China  for  the  last  half-century  were  then  acute.  Not,  to  be 
sure,  as  serious  as  on  our  last  visit  in  1900,  at  the  time  of  the 
Boxer  uprising,  but  still  sufficiently  troublesome  to  make  any 
extended  tour  unadvisable.  In  fact  our  excursion-manager  was 
warned  not  to  take  his  party  up  the  Pearl  River  from  Hong 
Kong  to  Canton  lest  the  presence  of  so  large  a  number  of 
Americans  would  be  misunderstood,  and  would  cause  offen- 
sive riots  and  perhaps  bloodshed. 

However  on  consultation  it  was  decided  to  risk  it,  and  when 
we  reached  Canton  great  crowds  of  scowling  Chinese  crowded 
the  wharves  and  lined  the  roadside  as  we  walked  up  to  the 
city.  Some  of  the  good  ladies  in  the  party  were  mortally 
afraid  of  these  black  looks  and  evidently  thought  that  their 
last  hour  had  come.  But  great  precautions  were  taken  by  the 
authorities,  a  large  force  of  police  was  called  out,  and  one 


390  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

policeman  detailed  for  every  eight  foreigners.  Our  chairs 
and  jinrikishas  were  carefully  guarded,  and  nothing  untoward 
happened  throughout  the  day,  while  the  merchants  in  jade, 
ginger,  and  Chinese  kickshaws  did  a  "  land-office  business." 

The  contrast  between  the  police  arrangements  which  I  saw 
on  this  occasion  and  my  memories  of  my  first  visit  to  Canton 
eighteen  years  before,  was  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  new 
China.  The  ragged,  dirty  guardians  of  the  law  whom  I  re- 
membered had  been  replaced  by  well-clad  "  coppers "  in 
handsome  uniforms,  who  thoroughly  understood  their  busi- 
ness. The  city  seemed  more  thriving  and  prosperous,  the 
open  sewers  less  obnoxious,  and  the  more  than  "  seventy 
smells  of  Cologne  "  which  I  remembered  had  been  reduced 
by  at  least  a  score. 

Two  weeks  were  spent  in  Japan,  and  the  visit  of  the 
"  Cleveland's  "  excursionists  was  a  triumphal  welcome  all  the 
way  from  Nagasaki  to  Tokyo.  The  streets  were  dressed  in 
their  gayest  bunting j  beautiful  arches  erected  for  the  occasion 
bore  emblems  of  cordial  greetings  j  elaborate  functions  with 
flowery  addresses  of  good  will  from  municipal  authorities  had 
been  arranged,  and  though  doubtless  the  Japanese  had  an  eye 
to  the  main  chance  and  expected  that  a  good  many  American 
dollars  would  be  left  behind  by  the  "  millionaires,"  the  wel- 
come, I  believe,  was  entirely  genuine.  In  all  the  visits  to 
that  country  that  I  have  made,  I  have  found  a  sincere  liking 
for  Americans  and  things  American.  The  common  people 
regard  us  as  their  best  friends  among  all  foreign  nations. 
Commodore  Perry  is  one  of  their  patron  saints,  and,  in  spite 
of  the  abominable  way  in  which  the  Japanese  have  at  times 
been  treated  in  this  country,  and  their  national  pride  wounded 
by  unfair  discriminations,  the  genuine  friendship  that  exists 
between  the  two  nations  has,  though  menaced,  never  been  de- 
stroyed. We  will  have  only  ourselves  to  blame  if  this  most 
progressive  nation  of  the  Orient  ever  becomes  our  enemy. 

I  was  surprised  to  learn  from  one  source  and  another  that 


AROUND    THE    WORLD    IN    FOUR    MONTHS 


391 


I  was  being  very  seriously  criticised  by  some  missionaries  and 
in  some  Christian  Japanese  papers,  because  I  was  "  promoting 


I'riumphal  Arch  in  Nagasaki 
Welcoming  the  American  tourists. 


the  open  desecration  of  the  Lord's  day,"  "  providing  Geisha 
dances  for  the  delectation  of  the  passengers,"  and  doing  other 


'^92  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

things  of  a  like  nature  inconsistent  with  my  profession  and 
professions.  So  during  some  days  of  my  stay  in  Japan  I  was 
kept  busy  writing  to  the  papers,  telling  them  that  I  was  not 
Frank  C.  Clark,  the  excursion-manager,  but  Francis  E.  Clark, 
who  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  arrangements,  and  had  indeed 
protested  against  the  desecration  of  the  Sabbath,  which  in  a 
measure  had  been  forced  upon  the  passengers  because  the 
steamer  had  been  scheduled  to  make  its  stops  largely  on  Sun- 
day at  the  different  ports.  A  protest  meeting  of  some  of  the 
leading  passengers,  held  about  this  time,  had  a  good  efFect, 
and  the  manager,  who  was  not  altogether  to  blame  in  the 
matter,  ,was  able  to  change  the  rest  of  the  schedule  more  to 
the  satisfaction  of  most  of  us. 

The  most  memorable  reception  to  the  passengers  of  the 
"  Cleveland  "  was  given  by  Count  Okuma  at  his  delightful 
villa  in  the  suburbs  of  Tokyo.  To  this  he  generously  in- 
vited all  the  hundreds  of  Americans.  In  a  beautifully  deco- 
rated marquee,  pitched  in  his  spacious  grounds,  refreshments, 
and  especially  ices,  so  dear  to  the  American  palate,  were 
served  in  great  abundance.  Japanese  jugglers  performed 
their  wonderful  sleight-of-hand  tricks,  to  our  heart's  content, 
and  a  moving-picture  camera  made  a  permanent  record  of 
the  gay  scene. 

In  his  very  cordial  address  of  welcome  the  Count  spoke 
highly  of  the  Christian  Endeavor"  movement,  and  referred 
to  my  former  visit,  which  I  was  surprised  to  have  him  remem- 
ber. On  this  and  many  other  occasions  on  the  voyage,  since 
the  number  of  public  speakers  in  our  party  was  limited,  it  fell 
to  my  lot  most  frequently  to  reply  to  these  kindly  addresses, 
though  the  Rev.  Mr.  Vittum,  an  eloquent  preacher  from 
Iowa,  Dr.  Shaw,  and  others,  shared  these  pleasant  duties. 

It  was  said  that  the  straw  mattings  in  the  section  of  the 
villa  furnished  in  Japanese  style,  suffered  not  a  little  from 
the  rude  footwear  of  the  American  guests,  but  if  so,  the 
Count  showed  no  sign  of  irritation  at  any  unconscious  vandal- 


AROUND    THE    WORLD    IN    FOUR    MONTHS  393 

ism,  but,  together  with  the  Countess,  moved  about  among  his 
guests  in  the  most  genuine,  friendly,  and  democratic  way. 

An  event  of  much  interest  to  me  occurred  on  the  very  day 
of  our  sailing  from  Yokohama,  —  an  audience  with  his 
Majesty,  Mutsuhito,  the  Emperor  of  Japan.  This  unusual 
honor  was  conferred  for  no  personal  merit,  but  because  the 
missionaries  felt  that  it  would  be  a  recognition  of  the  Christian 
forces  at  work  in  Japan. 

The  arrangements  for  the  audience  had  been  made  in  part 
before  I,  reached  Japan,  engineered  largely  by  Dr.  J.  H. 
DeForest,  the  statesman-missionary,  who  had  much  influence 
in  government  circles.  Hon.  J.  T.  O'Brien,  our  American 
ambassador,  entered  heartily  into  the  plan,  and  had  made  the 
final  arrangements. 

Some  Japanese  authorities,  however,  doubtless  did  not  see 
any  necessity  for  breaking  precedents  and  allowing  a  religious 
worker  from  America,  of  whom  probably  they  knew  little, 
personally  to  meet  the  "  All-Highest  "  of  Japan,  who  was 
regarded  by  most  of  his  subjects  as  clothed  with  divine  func- 
tions. So  one  excuse,  after  another  put  off  the  audience  until, 
as  Mr.  O'Brien  told  me,  the  "  embassy  chose  to  be  offended," 
and  forthwith,  on  the  last  day  of  the  "  Cleveland's  "  visit, 
the  hour  was  fixed  for  the  audience. 

In  regulation  court  regalia,  though  it  was  only  eleven 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  —  dress  suit,  white  gloves,  white 
necktie,  and  tall  hat,  —  accompanied  by  Mr.  O'Brien,  simi- 
larly arrayed,  we  drove  in  state  in  the  embassy  carriage,  to 
the  marvellous  old  palace.  Crossing  the  wide  moat  we  came 
to  the  door  of  the  palace,  and  were  ushered  by  various  flun- 
keys and  court  officers  through  interminable  corridors,  all 
decorated  with  the  royal  emblem,  the  chrysanthemum,  until 
we  came  to  the  waiting-room,  where  we  were  entertained  by 
the  Emperor's  chamberlain.  After  a  few  minutes  a  mes- 
senger appeared  to  tell  us  that  His  Majesty  was  ready  to  re- 
ceive us.     Crossing  the  corridor  we  bowed  low  three  times 


394        Memories  of  many  men  in  many  lands 

before  reaching  the  Emperor,  according  to  the  court  require- 
ments. He  cordially  shook  hands,  and  through  an  inter- 
preter who  stood  by,  asked  several  very  easily  answered 
questions,  like,  "  When  did  you  arrive  in  Japan?  "  "  Did 
you  have  a  good  passage?  "  "  When  do  you  expect  to  sail?  " 
etc. 

Ambassador  O'Brien  had  told  me  in  advance  that  the  Em- 
peror would  ask  "  a  few  fool  questions  "  and  that  as  it  was 
not  proper  for  us  to  initiate  any  conversation,  or  make  any 
original  remarks,  my  part  of  the  interview  would  be  very 
simple.  He  also  told  me  that  the  only  person  who  has  been 
able  to  break  through  the  court  barriers  was  former  Vice- 
President  Fairbanks,  the  last  person  he  had  taken  to  the 
palace,  some  six  months  previous  to  my  visit.  Mr.  Fairbanks 
ventured  some  remarks  and  questions  of  his  own  which  the 
Emperor  did  not  resent,  doubtless  owing  to  the  official  rank 
of  his  visitor,  nor  did  he  object  to  the  absence  of  Mr.  Fair- 
banks' white  gloves,  which,  at  the  last  moment,  the  genial 
vice-president  had  forgotten. 

In  spite  of  the  formality  of  the  interview,  it  was  a  most 
interesting  occasion  to  me,  not  only  because  of  the  personality 
of  the  Emperor,  but  because  of  the  line  that  he  represented. 
He  was  then  fifty-eight  years  old,  tall  for  his  race,  dignified 
and  courtly,  with  a  sharp  but  kindly  eye. 

He  shook  hands  with  a  good  firm  grip,  and  one  felt  in  his 
presence  that  he  was  speaking  to  no  princely  puppet,  or  merely 
titular  ruler,  but  one  who  had  kingly  qualities  within  himself. 
For  forty-three  years  he  had  been  Emperor  of  Japan,  and 
marvellous  changes  had  occurred  during  his  reign.  He  was 
the  I2ist  Emperor  in  the  same  imperial  line,  and  in  respect 
to  the  antiquity  of  his  royal  house  no  other  ruler  in  the  world 
could  compare  with  him.  The  Hohenzollerns  and  the  Haps- 
burgs  were  mere  infants  of  days  as  compared  with  Japan's 
rulers,  for  the  Japanese  trace  their  royal  line  back  to  Jimmu 
Teno  and  to  the  year  660  B.C.     If  we  deal  only  with  authen- 


AROUND    THE    WORLD    IN    FOUR    MONTHS  395 

tic  history  we  can  go  back  to  the  year  500  A.D.  and  find  the 
ancestors  of  his  Majesty's  forbears  on  the  throne  fourteen 
hundred  years  ago,  and  there  has  been  no  break  in  the  suc- 
cession since. 

The  reverence  of  the  people  of  Japan  for  their  Emperor 
is  almost  pathetic.  Some  of  my  Japanese  friends,  who  were 
much  impressed  by  the  fact  that  I  had  had  audience  with  their 
Emperor,  asked  me  if  I  had  to  go  into  his  presence  on  my 
hands  and  knees,  and  when  I  told  them  that  I  walked  in  on 
my  two  feet,  and  actually  shook  hands  with  his  majesty  they 
were  quite  amazed.  Such  extreme  reverence,  though  it  may 
have  its  ,weaknesses,  seems  to  me  better  than  the  irreverence 
of  the  American  small  boy  for  his  ruler,  who  would  speak 
of  "  Teddy  Roosevelt,"  or  "  Woody  Wilson  "  or  "  Hardy 
Harding,"  as  though  they  were  his  chums  in  the  old  swim- 
ming-hole. 

Mutsuhito  was  almost  the  last  connecting  link  between  old 
Japan  and  new.  He  had  seen  his  country  shake  ofF  the 
shackles  of  two  thousand  vears  of  Chinese  and  Korean  civiliza- 
tion,  and  adopt  western  methods  of  business,  government,  and 
dress,  the  last  a  very  doubtful  blessing.  It  is  safe  to  say  that 
no  ruler  in  the  history  of  the  world  had  seen  more  marvellous 
changes  in  his  domain  during  his  reign,  and  few  have  borne 
themselves  more  wisely  than  "  Mutsuhito,  the  Great." 

The  same  day  of  the  audience  with  the  Emperor  the 
"  Cleveland  "  sailed  on  almost  the  last  lap  of  its  journey  to 
San  Francisco,  charming  Honolulu  being  the  only  other 
stopping-place.  Here,  too,  we  had  a  great  welcome,  not  only 
from  the  hundreds  of  Endeavorers,  but  from  the  inhabitants 
generally,  and  receptions,  luaus,  rides  to  the  Pali,  and  public 
meetings  were  the  order  of  the  day  during  our  brief  stay. 
My  second  son,  Harold,  was  then  teaching  in  Oahu  College, 
so  that  Mrs.  Clark  and  I  had  reason  for  unusual  joy  in  this 
last  halting-place. 

The  steamer  anchored  for  quarantine  inspection  some  miles 


396  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

out  of  the  harbor,  an  inspection  which  took  an  unconscion- 
ably long  time.  In  the  meantime  several  small  harbor  boats 
with  many  friends  on  board  had  come  out  to  meet  our  steamer. 
Unhappily  for  them  the  wind  rose,  and  the  waves  mounted 
high,  but  our  gruff  and  surly  captain,  who  had  often  showed 
himself  unaccommodating,  would  not  take  them  on  board,  as 
he  easily  might  have  done,  but,  deathly  seasick  and  drenched 
to  the  skin  by  the  waves,  they  had  to  bear  it  as  well  as  they 
could,  until  it  pleased  him  to  make  the  harbor. 

No  further  incidents  of  importance  occurred  after  leaving 
Honolulu,  and  in  five  days  the  friends  of  a  four  months' 
cruise  separated  at  San  Francisco,  to  pursue  many  different 
paths  for  their  life's  journey.  Warm  and  enduring  friend- 
ships had  been  formed,  and  many  indelible  mental  pictures 
had  been  painted.  Three  or  four  books  in  my  library,  pre- 
sented by  as  many  fellow-passengers,  give  their  impressions 
of  this  memorable  journey. 

While  Mrs.  Clark  went  straight  home  to  her  children  with 
some  travelling-companions  who  were  going  in  the  same  direc- 
tion, Dr.  Shaw  and  I  fulfilled  many  engagements  on  the 
Pacific  Coast  and  in  Canada.  In  these  meetings  we  tried  to 
make  the  Occidental  Endeavorers  better  acquainted  with,  and 
more  sympathetic  towards,  their  Oriental  brethren  whom  we 
had  seen  in  these  months  of  travel.  One  result  of  all  such 
journeys  is  that  they  tend  to  bring  the  East  and  the  West 
nearer  together,  not  diplomatically,  nor  by  trade  relations,  but 
in  human  sympathy,  and  by  a  realization  of  the  common  ties 
that  bind  Christ's  followers  in  all  lands. 


Chapter  XXXV 
Years  1908-1922 

IN  THE  GOOD  OLD  SUMMER  TIME 

FROM   THE   MAINE   COAST  TO   CAPE   COD A   HOUSE   FOR  $ S SO. 

THE     CHARMING     MAINE     COAST WHY     WE     CHOSE 

SAGAMORE REFORMING    AN     ABANDONED     FARM  RE- 
JUVENATING AN   OLD    HOUSE. 


URING  the  later  years  of  my  pastorate  in 
Portland,  and  throughout  all  the  summers 
of  my  Boston  pastorate,  and  for  nearly  a 
score  of  years  afterwards,  whenever  we  were 
in  America,  we  had  spent  our  summers  in 
a  little  pine  cottage  on  the  coast  of  Maine, 
where  a  colony  of  Portland  people  had  established  them- 
selves some  two  miles  on  the  Portland  side  of  Old  Orchard. 

Not  without  reason,  the  colony  voted  to  call  the  place 
"  Grand  Beach,"  for  it  is  certainly  one  of  the  finest  beaches 
in  the  world.  Smooth  as  a  floor,  the  hard  sand  gradually 
slopes  out  into  the  ocean  for  six  hundred  feet  at  low  tide, 
affording  safe  bathing  ground,  while  the  surf  rolls  in  end- 
lessly on  majestic  waves. 

Our  first  little  pine  cottage,  painted  a  cheerful  red,  cost  all 
of  $550.  It  seems  incredible  in  these  days  of  high  prices, 
that  a  two-story  cottage  with  seven  rooms. could  be  built  for 
that  very  moderate  sum,  but  so  it  was,  and  it  afforded  a  happy 
summer  refuge  for  us  for  many  years.  Afterwards,  a  grow- 
ing family  made  it  imperative  to  build  a  larger  cottage, 
though  still  a  very  unpretentious  one,  at  what  would  now  be 
considered  a  very  unpretentious  price. 

397 


398  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

More  than  most  people  I  have  prized  my  summer  homes, 
for  of  late  years  they  have  given  me  almost  my  only  chance 
for  family  life,  which  most  men  with  a  more  stable  habitation 
can  enjoy  the  year  round.  Now  that  my  grandchildren  have 
come,  we  look  forward  to  their  visits  with  their  fathers  and 
mothers  as  among  the  green  oases  in  life's  journey. 

Early  in  the  new  century  the  Christian  Endeavor  leaders 
began  to  feel  that  a  summer  home  would  be  desirable,  not 
only  for  themselves  individually,  but  for  the  movement  at 
large,  where  we  might  gather  socially,  and  for  occasional  con- 
ferences. At  the  instance  of  Mr.  George  B.  Graff,  who  was 
then  the  publication  manager  of  the  United  Society,  a  number 
of  us  went  to  look  at  Sagamore  Beach,  some  two  miles  from 
the  village  of  Sagamore.  Here  Cape  Cod  begins  to  stretch 
out  its  long  curved  arm  into  the  sea.  The  doubled-up  fist, 
or  according  to  the  conceit  of  somebody,  the  beckoning  finger, 
at  Provincetown,  is  sixty  miles  from  Sagamore  by  land,  but 
only  twenty-eight  by  sea  across  Cape  Cod  Bay.  We  found 
the  shore  and  hinterland  a  rough  and  inhospitable  place  in 
those  days,  but  we  saw  rare  possibilities.  The  Bay  stretched 
out  its  broad  waters  invitingly  j  a  very  fair  beach  made  bath- 
ing and  water  sports  practicable,  and  the  rising  ground  behind, 
covered  with  scrub  pines,  in  a  kind  of  terrace-like  formation, 
afforded  ample  building  lots  for  a  large  colony. 

The  land  near  the  shore,  however,  was  covered  with  a  dense 
growth  of  tangled,  thorny  shrubs,  and,  as  I  remember  my 
first  visit,  it  seems  incredible  that  in  so  short  a  time  a  flourish- 
ing colony  with  some  sixty  cottages,  two  hotels,  water-works, 
and  electric  lights,  should  have  been  built  up. 

The  original  colonists  were  Christian  Endeavorers,  who 
desired  a  quiet  summer  home  amid  good  moral  and  religious 
surroundings  for  themselves  and  their  children.  After  a 
time  many  other  colonists  arrived  and  Sagamore  Beach  largely 
lost  its  early  distinctive  quality,  though  it  still  remained  a 
community  of  pleasant,  friendly  people.     Many  of  us  were 


IN    THE    GOOD    OLD    SUMMER    TIME  399 

greatly  disappointed  that  our  original  plans  could  not  be  fully 
carried  out,  but  we  had  to  accept  the  inevitable  when  bank- 
ruptcy stared  the  colony  in  the  face,  on  account  of  the  high 
cost  of  roads,  water-works,  etc. 

Yet  the  social,  friendly  atmosphere  of  the  place  is  still 
very  delightful.  Each  year  "  Colony  Day  "  is  observed,  and 
on  that  day  most  of  the  colonists  dress  in  Puritan  costume  in 
memory  of  the  fact  that  the  "  Mayflower  "  passengers  sailed 
around  our  Sagamore  coast  from  Provincetown,  where  they 
first  landed,  to  Plymouth  their  final  abode,  which  is  only  a 
few  miles  from  Sagamore  as  the  gulls  fly. 

A  Christian  Endeavor  conference  was  held  every  summer 
for  several  years,  until  its  growing  numbers  compelled  its 
removal  to  Northfield,  where  more  ample  accommodations 
can  be  secured. 

A  sociological  conference  was  also  held  yearly  for  some 
time,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  George  W.  Coleman,  who 
was  so  long  identified  with  the  Christian  Endeavor  move- 
ment as  advertising  manager  of  its  newspaper  organ,  and  who 
is  now  a  trustee  of  the  United  Society,  I  have  already  spokea 
of  the  many  honors  which  have  been  his. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  I  was  early  drawn  to  cast  in  my  lot  with 
this  new  colony,  though  it  was  something  of  a  wrench  for  my 
family  and  myself  to  tear  ourselves  away  from  the  long- 
time, happy  associations  with  the  coast  of  Maine.  In  1908, 
having  disposed  of  my  Grand  Beach  property  to  my  oldest 
son,  I  built  a  cottage  on  one  of  Sagamore's  sand  hills,  —  a 
home  which  we  called  "  The  Dunes,"  and  to  which  we  trans- 
ferred our  affections  as  well  as  our  summer  "  Lares  and 
Penates." 

For  many  years  farm  hunger  had  been  growing  upon  me, 
and,  the  appetite  increasing  with  age,  we  had  made  many  ex- 
cursions into  the  country,  hoping  tO'  find  an  ideal  abiding-place 
for  our  declining  years,  which  we  might  also  occasionally 
visit   before    the    grasshopper    should    become    altogether    a 


400 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 


burden.  None  of  these  excursions  had  been  very  fruitful, 
however,  but  soon  after  the  Sagamore  colony  was  organized, 
we  discovered  an  abandoned  farm  lying  on  the  very  edge  of 
the  colony,  with  which  we  both  fell  in  love  at  first  sight.  One 
bright  November  day  we  made  an  excursion  to  look  the  old 
place  over  more  thoroughly  before  deciding  to  purchase,  and 
a  few  hours  spent  in  the  Sunken  Orchard,  under  the  old  apple 


The  Abandoned  Old  Farm  House  at  Sagamore  Beach 
Partially  Reformed. 

trees,  whose  red-cheeked  fruit  lay  all  around  us,  to  be  had 
for  the  picking  up,  completed  the  conquest  of  the  farm. 

As  soon  as  possible  I  bought  the  old  house  with  several 
acres  of  land  that  surrounded  it,  for  a  few  hundred  dollars. 
Various  additions  to  the  first  purchase  have  been  made  from 
time  to  time,  until  now,  I  have,  all  told,  some  twenty-five 
acres  of  woodland  and  tillage,  old  orchards  and  new  orchards, 
pine  tree  hills  and  sunken  valleys,  so  peculiar  to  the  topog- 
raphy of  Cape  Cod.  This  is  the  joy  of  my  heart,  and  when  in 
America,  we  spend  many  happy  weeks  in  the  spring  and  fall 
in  the  old  farmhouse,  often  going  to  the  cottage  on  the  shore 


IN    THE    GOOD    OLD    SUMMER    TIME  4OI 

during  the  summer's  hottest  months.  Hither  come  the 
children  and  grandchildren,  and  here  ,we  have  established  the 
home  of  our  sunset  years. 

"My  word!  "  as  our  English  friends  would  say,  but  the 
farm  was  an  abandoned  one,  when  first  we  became  acquainted 
with  it!  Indeed,  it  seemed  as  though  it  could  never  be  re- 
formed. The  old  house,  built  in  1690,  had  apparently  en- 
joyed no  repairs  for  a  century.  A  horse  was  contentedly 
munching  his  hay  in  the  kitchen,  when  we  first  saw  it.  A  slack 
and  disorderly  family  had  occupied  a  room  or  two  which  were 
only  partially  rain-proof.  The  land  had  been  starved  for  as 
many  years  as  the  house  had  been  neglected,  and  had  to  be 
well  "  fed  up  "  before  it  would  produce  any  worth-while 
crops.  Yet  the  frame  of  the  house  was  still  there  and  capable 
of  repair.  Better  than  all,  the  cypress  and  pine  trees,  and  the 
old  apple  trees,  the  Sunken  Orchard,  and  Pine-Tree  Knoll 
and  a  lovely  view  of  the  sea  and  the  Cape  Cod  canal  were  there. 
In  the  course  of  years,  by  the  steady  work  of  excellent  Portu- 
guese laborers  from  the  Cape  Verde  Islands,  with  whom  Cape 
Cod  abounds,  the  abandoned  farm  has  taken  on  a  large  degree 
of  respectability.  The  woods  have  been  cleared  of  decaying 
brush  and  useless  trees,  young  orchards  have  been  planted, 
the  spring  in  the  old  sink-hole  has  been  cleared  out,  and  has 
spread  itself  into  a  lovely  little  duck  pond,  surrounded  by 
black  alders,  willows  and  tangled  grape  vines  and  covered 
with  water-lilies.  The  old  house,  with  the  help  of  a  skilful 
architect,  after  a  few  years  was  remodeled  without  destroying 
or  injuring  the  old  lines. 

The  house  has  the  advantage  of  having  even  harbored  a 
ghost  J  for  what  ancient  house  in  New  England  would  be 
without  this  attraction?  I  have  been  solemnly  informed  by 
an  old  man  who  lived  there,  that  he  has  often  seen  the 
wraith  of  Father  Crowell,  one  of  the  earlier  inhabitants,  lying 
in  the  little  bedroom  off  the  great  living-room,  and  has  smelled 
the  synthetic  coffee  and   doughnuts  which   Mother   Crowell 


402  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

would  prepare  every  morning  before  daylight  for  her  ghostly 
family.  However  my  own  eyes  and  nostrils  are  not  suffi- 
ciently acute  to  detect  the  presence  of  these  disembodied 
spirits,  and  our  occupancy  of  the  farmhouse  has  never  been 
disputed  by  any  former  resident.  I  shall  take  occasion  in  a 
later  chapter  to  tell  about  the  more  thorough  reformation 
of  the  old  home  which  I  have  come  to  love  so  much. 


The  Lily  Pond  in  the  "Sunken  Orchard" 
Sagamore  Beach. 

As  has  happened  to  many  another  family  when  the  children 
become  old  enough  to  leave  the  home-nest,  our  house  in 
Auburndale  became  too  large  for  the  sole  occupancy  of  Mrs. 
Clark  and  myself,  and  as  our  duties  frequently  called  us  to 
spend  much  time  in  other  countries  than  our  own,  "  Hillcrest  " 
was  vacant  much  of  the  time  for  several  years  after  the  death 
of  my  adopted  mother,  and  the  departure  of  our  children  for 


IN    THE    GOOD    OLD    SUMMER    TIME 


403 


college  or  for  homes  of  their  own.  At  length,  though  very 
much  to  our  regret,  it  seemed  best  to  sell  our  much-loved 
home  overlooking  the  Charles  River  and  the  Weston  Hills, 
and  thus  save  the  money  which  might  be  applied  to  better  uses 
than  maintaining  the  claims  of  sentiment  and  pleasant 
memories.  It  was  with  sincere  regret  that  we  left  our  friends 
in  Auburndale,  the  beautiful  village,  which,  at  two  widely 
separated  intervals  in   my  life,   had  been   my   happy   home. 


The  Clark  Family  To-Day 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Clark,  their  daughter,  three  sons,  two  daughters-in-law,  and 

seven  grandchildren.    The  son-in-law  was  absent  when  the  picture  was  taken. 

As  can  be  imagined,  there  are  not  a  few  real  disadvantages 
in  a  life  broken  by  long  journeys  as  mine  has  been  for  so 
many  years.  One  misses  the  companionship  of  old  and  tried 
friends,  loses  touch  with  church,  denominational,  town,  and 
village  interests,  to  some  extent;  becomes  of  less  use  in 
narrower  circles  of  religious  and  community  life,  as  he  is 
obliged  to  spread  himself  more  thinly  over  a  larger  area. 


404  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS   ' 

I  have  often  wished  that  I  might  allow  my  roots  to  run 
more  deeply  into  the  soil,  instead  of  transplanting  them 
temporarily  so  often.  Yet  there  are  compensations  and 
privileges  which  one  must  not  forget.  As  I  think  of  the  tens 
of  thousands  of  worthy  and  interesting  people  whom  I  have 
met  in  many  lands,  of  their  kindly  greetings  and  affectionate 
remembrances  J  as  I  receive  their  letters  from  every  land,  full 
of  genuine  interest  j  as  every  daily  paper  becomes  of  more 
Interest  because  it  tells  of  the  places  we  have  seen,  and  recalls 
the  friends  who  live  in  them,  I  feel  that  even  a  word  of  com- 
plaint concerning  the  disadvantages  of  a  wandering  life  is  un- 
worthy, and  that  I  should  not  forget  to  say  of  these  unusual 
and  undeserved  advantages,  "  the  lines  have  fallen  unto  me  in 
pleasant  places  j  yea,  I  have  a  goodly  heritage,"  even  if  it  is 
chiefly  a  heritage  of  memories  and  friendships. 


Chapter  XXXVI 
Year    191  i 

IN   OLD  HOMES  OF  NEW  AMERICANS 

A  LONG  ZIGZAG  JOURNEY ITS  PURPOSE,  TO  ACQUAINT  AMERI- 
CANS  WITH    AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN    IMMIGRANTS POLAND 

RUSSIA PETTY        PROHIBITIONS CRACOW CZER- 

NOVITZ WHERE  A  CAMERA  IS  A  NOVELTY ROUMANIA 

CROATIA. 

N  THE  fall  of  19 11  again  the  call  seemed  to 
come  to  visit  the  "  regions  beyond,"  where 
Christian  Endeavor  was  gaining  a  struggling 
foothold,  and  where  I  felt  that  I  might 
perhaps  help  it  to  a  larger  life.  Our  chief 
objective  was  Russian  Poland,  Galicia,  and 
the  smaller  countries  then  under  the  sway  of  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  monarchy  from  which  so  many  immigrants  had 
come  to  our  own  land  during  the  preceding  quarter-century. 

Our  plans  expanded  as  we  journeyed,  and,  before  we 
reached  home  again  we  had  visited  each  one  of  the  seven 
cities  of  Asia  to  which  the  messages  in  the  Book  of  Revelation 
were  sent,  and  also  as  many  of  the  cities  which  St.  Paul  made 
memorable  as  we  could  in  the  time  at  our  disposal. 

But  that  is  another  story,  and  this  chapter  deals  chiefly  with 
the  various  nationalities  of  the  country  then  called  Austro- 
Hungary  and  its  neighbors  on  the  east.  I  had  long  felt  that 
there  was  a  woeful  ignorance  in  America  of  the  immigrants 
who  have  come  to  us  by  the  million  from  this  part  of  Europe; 
an  ignorance  which  breeds  not  only  indifference,  but  the  con- 
tempt that  is  well  set  forth  in  Robert  Haven  Schauffler's  poem, 

405 


406  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

"  The  Scum  of  the  Earth,"  and  in  Bishop  Mclntyre's  verses 
which  begin: 

"  Dago  and  Sheeny  and  Chink, 
Greaser  and  Nigger  and  Jap. 
The   devil   invented   these   terms   I   think, 
To  hurl  at  each  hopeful  chap 
Who  comes  so  far  o'er  the  foam 
To  this  land  of  his  heart's  desire. 
To  rear  his  hrood,  to  huild  his  home, 
And  to  kindle   his  hearthstone  fire. 
While   the  eyes  with   joy  are  blurred, 
Lo!    we   make   the   strong   man   shrink. 
And  stab  his  soul  with   the  hateful   words. 
Dago  and  Sheenv  and  Chink." 

The  double  purpose  of  this  journey  resulted  eventually 
in  the  publication  of  three  books,  to  one  of  which  I  gave  the 
title  that  heads  this  chapter,  "  Old  Homes  of  New  Americans," 
published  in  19 13  by  Houghton  and  Mifflin  Company j 
another,  entitled,  "  The  Holy  Land  of  Asia  Minor,"  describ- 
ing the  present  appearance  of  the  Seven  Cities  of  Revelation, 
which  was  published  by  Scribners  in  19 14. 

The  third  and  largest  book  of  the  three,  published  by 
Putnams  in  19 17,  was  entitled,  "  In  the  Footsteps  of  St.  Paul," 
and  was  the  result  in  part  of  a  later  journey,  in  which  we 
finished  the  round  of  more  than  thirty  cities  which  the  great 
Apostle  had  dwelt  in  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time  in  his  early 
life,  or  in  the  course  of  his  great  missionary  journeys. 

These  books  were  written  partly  during  a  somewhat  pro- 
longed stay  in  Athens,  partly  on  steamer  journeys,  and  partly 
after  reaching  America  again,  and  owe  not  a  little  of  what 
merit  they  may  have  to  my  wife's  urgency  and  ever-ready 
typewriter,  which  together  with  her  busy  fingers,  were  often 
at  my  disposal,  as  well  as  her  valued  criticisms  and  suggestions. 

The  1911  journey,  begun  in  the  early  fall,  took  us  first  to 
Rotterdam.     A  few  days  in  Holland  gave  us  an  opportunity 


IN    OLD    HOMES    OF    NEW    AMERICANS  4O7 

to  go  to  the  tip  end  of  the  (rreat  Dyke,  the  Helder,  which 
holds  in  the  furious  North  Sea  from  overwhelming  the 
polders  of  the  low  country.  Here  we  found  a  Christian  En- 
deavor enthusiast  who  hopeci  to  make  the  movement  a  power 
in  Holland,  an  ambition  which  now  seems  likely  to  be  realized, 
but  which,  like  many  other  good  projects,  was  interrupted 
by  the  cruel  war  of  the  nations. 

Then  came  some  memorable  days  in  Germany,  with  a  great 
convention  in  Cassel,  which  so  crowded  the  halls  where  it  was 
held  that  standing-room  was  often  at  a  premium.  As  I  think 
of  the  dear  friends  whom  I  met  on  that  and  during  longer 
sojourns  in  Germany,  I  cannot  believe  that  the  heart  of  the 
German  people  is  as  callous  and  blood-thirsty  as  the  literature 
of  England  and  America  in  war-time  would  have  us  believe. 

I  think  that  President  Wilson  was  far  more  nearly  right 
than  the  militarists  and  penny-a-liners  who  lost  no  oppor- 
tunity to  berate  the  German  people,  when  he  declared  that  it 
•is  the  militarism  of  the  leaders  that  we  are  fighting,  and  that 
the  true  spirit  of  Germany  is  the  spirit  of  its  poets,  and  its 
devout  Christians,  of  its  early  philosophers  and  reformers, 
rather  than  that  of  its  Nietzsches  and  its  Prussian  war-lords, 
who  did  so  much  to  briyg  about  the  world-wide  catastrophe. 

We  took  advantage  of  our  brief  stay  in  Cassel  to  hunt  up 
(with  some  difficulty)  the  home  where  the  Brothers  Grimm 
wrote  their  household  stories  which  were  the  delight  of  my 
boyhood  more  than  any  other  books  save  perhaps  "  The  Swiss 
Family  Robinson."  It  is  an  unpretentious  gable-roofed  house, 
with  a  tobacconist's  shop  underneath,  and  a  tablet  marking  the 
place  where  the  famous  masters  of  the  fairy  story  wrote  their 
tales.  It  was  while  we  were  there  that  we  heard  an  amusing 
little  story  of  the  brothers.  In  one  of  their  fairy  tales  is  an 
account  of  a  tailor  who  ended  by  marrying  a  princess,  and  the 
story  closes  with  these  words,  "  Whoever  does  not  believe  this 
story  must  give  me  a  mark."  It  is  told  that  a  little  girl  one 
day  knocked  at  the  door  of  the  Brothers  Grimm,  and  said, 


408  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

"  I  have  read  your  story  of  a  tailor,  and  I  cannot  believe  it. 
I  don't  believe  that  a  tailor  ever  married  a  princess.  I  haven't 
as  much  money  as  a  mark,  but  here  is  a  ten  pfennig  piece,  and 
I  will  bring  the  rest  as  soon  as  I  can."  I  do  not  vouch  for  the 
truth  of  this  story,  but  it  seems  to  me  not  improbable,  so  real- 
istic is  the  impression  made  by  many  of  these  tales. 

After  attending  a  number  of  conventions  and  rallies  in 
Germany  we  made  our  first  essay  into  Poland,  where  I  had 
been  invited  by  the  Lutheran  pastor  of  Pabianice,  to  attend 
an  Endeavor  convention  for  Russian  Poland.  It  was  no  easy 
matter,  even  in  those  days,  to  cross  the  border  between  Ger- 
many and  Russia,  and  my  passport  though  it  was  duly  signed  by 
Elihu  Root,  Secretary  of  State,  and  bore  the  great  gold  seal 
of  the  United  States,  had  to  be  vised  seemingly  at  every  cross- 
road after  leaving  Germany. 

Moreover  the  Russian  authorities  at  the  border,  disregard- 
ing the  divine  command,  "  What  God  hath  joined  together, 
let  not  man  put  asunder,"  tried  long  and  earnestly  to  prevent 
Mrs.  Clark  from  following  me  through  the  wicket-gate  that 
led  from  Germany  into  Russia,  because  the  passport  did  not 
give  her  name,  but  simply  said  that  I  was  accompanied  by  my 
wife,  and  how  did  they  know  that  this  little  woman  was  my 
wife  rather  than  some  bloodthirsty  anarchist  with  a  bomb  for 
the  Czar  concealed  about  her  person?  However,  after  much 
argument  and  consultation,  and  the  untying  of  numerous 
bundles  of  red  tape,  they  decided  to  make  her  a  present  of  a 
name,  and  christened  her  "  Mary  "  upon  the  passport,  so  that 
she  had  to  remember  that  while  in  Russia  her  name  was  Mary 
and  not  Harriet. 

Pabianice  we  found  to  be  a  thriving  manufacturing  town 
in  the  suburbs  of  the  great  industrial  city  of  Lodz.  When 
we  reached  the  railway  station  we  saw  a  lady  eagerly  scanning 
the  cars  as  they  passed,  and  when  she  saw  us  looking  out  of  the 
window,  she  frantically  beckoned  to  us  to  get  out,  though  we 
had  been  told  to  go  on  to  Lodz,  the  next  station. 


IN    OLD    HOMES    OF    NEW    AMERICANS 


409 


In  the  meantime  she  had  begged  the  station  master  to  delay 
the  train  one  minute  and  had  sent  a  porter  to  one  end  of  the 
train,  and  a  gentleman  she  had  found  in  the  station  to  the 
other  end,  showing  them  each  a  photograph  of  myself,  while 


Polish  Peasants 
A  remote  village  in  Russian  Poland. 


she  anxiously  looked  at  each  car  from  the  platform.  It  was 
a  very  long  train  and  she  had  only  three  minutes  in  which 
to  find  some  strangers  who  were  not  expecting  to  get  off  there, 


410  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

and  whom  neither  she  nor  either  of  her  messengers  had  ever 
seen.  But  she  did  it,  and  triumphantly  escorted  us  to  the 
pleasant,  comfortable  parsonage  in  due  time.  With  such  an 
example  of  executive  ability  we  had  no  doubt  that  the  con- 
vention which  she  and  her  husband  had  arranged  would  be  a 
success,  as  proved  to  be  the  case. 

Young  people  had  come  from  many  parts  of  Russian 
Poland,  some  from  a  distance  of  250  miles,  with  an  intelligent 
zeal  and  devotion  that  spoke  well  for  the  training  of  their 
churches  and  societies.  As  on  so  many  other  occasions  it  was 
found  difficult  to  obtain  a  good  intepreter  for  my  addresses. 
At  last  the  problem  was  solved  by  impressing  into  the  service 
the  wealthiest  man  in  town,  the  owner  of  great  cotton  and 
woolen  mills.  I  understood  afterwards  that  he  was  anything 
but  a  religious  man,  and  I  fear  that  he  was  greatly  bored  in 
having  to  translate  a  gospel  sermon,  which  I  had  been  asked 
to  give,  as  well  as  an  address  upon  the  principles  and  practice 
of  Christian  Endeavor.  However,  he  was  polite  enough  not 
to  express  such  feelings,  if  he  had  them. 

I  was  much  impressed  with  the  splendid  manufacturing 
plants  of  this  vicinity.  Here  I  saw  the  best  American  ma- 
chinery and  the  latest  improvements  in  sanitation  and  hygiene, 
which  we  do  not  usually  expect  to  find  in  a  country  which  we 
have  always  considered  backward  and  unenterprising.  But 
this  part  of  what  was  then  Russian  Poland  manufactured 
goods  for  all  of  Russia,  and  had  grown  rich  on  its  almost  un- 
limited clientele. 

Though  the  Jews  were  not  then  allowed  to  work  in  the 
mills  the  streets  were  full  of  frowsy  long-bearded  Hebrews 
in  skull  caps  and  gaberdines  that  reached  to  their  heels.  They 
were  the  shop-keepers  of  the  neighborhood,  the  peddlers  and 
the  petty  tradesmen,  and  were  heartily  disliked  by  the  Poles 
for  their  sharp  practices.  To  these  practices,  however,  they 
had  been  driven  by  years  of  persecution.  Foxes  and  weasels 
can  live  only  because  they  are  sly,  and  are  able  to  take  an 


IN    OLD    HOMES    OF    NEW    AMERICANS  4II 

intellectual  advantage  of  their  stronger  and  more  stupid 
enemies. 

Warsaw,  as  we  expected,  we  found  to  be  a  great  and  thriv- 
ing city  worthy  of  its  ancient  lineage  and  history.  Some 
months  before  starting  on  this  journey  I  had  been  asked  to 
address  an  Endeavor  meeting  in  Riga,  on  the  Baltic  Sea,  where 
lived  some  very  earnest  advocates  of  the  movement.  So, 
knowing  the  difficulties  that  would  undoubtedly  be  put  in  the 
way  of  any  humble  American  preacher  who  wanted  to  speak 
on  a  religious  subject  within  the  territory  controlled  by  the 
holy  Orthodox  Church  and  his  Majesty  the  Czar,  I  had  asked 
Ambassador  Guild,  a  personal  friend,  who  had  been  the 
Governor  of  Massachusetts,  to  get  permission  for  me  to  speak. 
He  had  written  me  concerning  the  matter  two  or  three  times, 
that  he  had  been  able  to  get  no  satisfactory  reply  from  the 
court  authorities.  However,  we  went  to  Riga  hoping  to  find 
the  permit  there,  but  it  had  not  arrived. 

Up  to  the  last  minute  our  suspense  was  maintained,  when, 
as  the  Endeavorers  were  upon  their  knees,  praying  that  the 
authorities  might  relent,  a  telegram  was  handed  in,  the  pur- 
port of  which  was  that  though  no  official  permission  would 
be  given  me  to  address  the  meeting,  I  might  take  a  chance 
and  do  it,  without  permission,  if  the  police  of  Riga  did  not 
object.  They  apparently  did  not,  for  the  meeting  went  on 
successfully,  and  nothing  was  done  to  me  when  shortly  after- 
wards we  went  on  to  St.  Petersburg,  as  it  was  then  called,  and 
I  was  allowed  to  speak,  not  only  in  the  English  American 
Church  but  in  Baron  Nicolay's  mission  and  at  the  Y.M.C.A. 

All  these  petty  regulations  and  hindrances  in  the  way  of 
free  speech  showed  the  stupidly  minute  particularity  to  which 
the  repressive  powers  of  an  autocracy  will  descend,  and  were 
slight  indications  of  the  foolish  tyranny  which,  little  by  little, 
was  preparing  the  way  for  the  great  catastrophe  which  over- 
whelmed the  bureaucracy,  sent  the  Czar  into  exile  and  to 
death,  and  involved  the  whole  empire  in  years  of  chaos  and 


412  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

anarchy.  My  difficulty  in  getting  permission  to  speak  was 
of  course  a  most  trivial  circumstance,  but  it  was  indicative  of 
a  stupid,  mediaeval  rule  which  in  the  twentieth  century  was 
bound  sooner  or  later  to  be  overthrown. 

I  found  Ambassador  Curtis  Guild  as  genial,  friendly,  and 
companionable  as  he  had  been  as  the  Governor  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  no  man  has  ever  been  more  popular  either  at  home 
or  abroad.  His  ambassadorial  flunkies  clad  in  scarlet  livery, 
one  of  whom  stood  behind  each  of  our  chairs  at  the  dinner 
table,  did  not  spoil  his  sturdy  American  democracy  or  common 
sense,  and  Boston  did  well  to  honor  him  by  dedicating  to  his 
memory  the  fine  granite  steps  that  stand  at  the  head  of  the 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes'  "  Long  Walk "  across  Boston 
Common. 

As  a  matter  of  contrast  between  old  Russia  and  new  Russia 
in  the  matter  of  vodka  drinking,  I  recollect  that  the  droschky 
driver  who  took  us  from  the  hotel  to  the  station  when  we  left 
St.  Petersburg  was  more  than  "  half  seas  over."  In  an  insane 
and  reckless  manner  he  drove  through  the  crowded  streets, 
whipping  up  his  poor  horses,  which  fortunately  had  more 
sense  and  sobriety  than  their  driver.  When  I  remonstrated 
with  him  in  as  forcible  terms  as  I  could  command,  he  simply 
turned  round  and  leered  at  me,  letting  his  steeds  take  their 
own  course  through  the  thronging  thoroughfare.  Who  could 
have  dreamed  that  in  a  few  short  years  Russia  even  while  the 
Czar  still  reigned  would  become  the  soberest  nation  in  Europe, 
instead  of  the  most  drunken.  Its  present  degree  of  sobriety 
I  cannot  vouch  for. 

Our  next  journey  was  to  Austrian  Poland,  and  embraced  the 
interesting  cities  of  Cracow,  Lemburg,  as  well  as  Czernovitz, 
the  capital  of  the  Bukowina.  Of  all  the  cities  of  eastern 
Europe  Cracow  was  to  us  decidedly  the  most  worthy  of 
a  visit,  not  only  because  of  its  unrivalled  history  and  its 
memorials  of  the  past,  but  because  of  its  present-day  beauty 
and  interest.  It  is  delightfully  situated  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  Vistula,  at  the  junction  of  the  Rodowa. 


IN    OLD    HOMES    OF    NEW    AMERICANS  413 

The  ancient  Gothic  Tuch-Haus  (Cloth-House)  is  of 
special  renown,  and  there  is  no  quainter  spot  in  Europe  than 
these  old  booths  dedicated  to  the  drapers'  trade  for  centuries 
past.  The  Stanislaus  Cathedral  is  the  Westminster  Abbey  of 
Poland.  Here  are  the  tombs  of  the  great  Polish  emperors, 
and  here  lie  the  mortal  remains  of  the  Sigismunds,  of  John 
Sobieski,  who  withstood  the  might  of  the  Saracens  with  his 
little  army,  when  the  cowardly  King  Leopold  had  fled  in 
terror  from  Vienna.  Had  it  not  been  for  Sobieski  and  his 
brave  Poles  doubtless  all  Europe  would  have  been  overrun 
by  the  Moslems  who  were  thundering  at  the  very  gates  of 
Vienna,  then  almost  the  last  stronghold  of  the  Christians. 

Here,  too,  lies  Kosciusko,  who  fought  side  by  side  with 
Washington  at  the  battle  of  Saratoga,  and  was  afterwards  the 
governor  of  West  Point  Military  Academy.  No  Polish  hero 
is  more  honored  in  his  own  country  or  in  ours.  When  I  was  a 
school-boy  a  favorite  declamation  was  Campbell's  stirring 
lines  whose  climax  seemed  to  me  —  the  ne  plus  ultra  of  heroic 
verse : 

"  Freedom  shrieked   when   Kosciusko   fell." 

It  was  "  Goose-market  Day  "  while  we  were  in  Cracow,  and 
every  other  person  we  met  had  a  great  white  goose  in  his  arms, 
either  taking  it  to  market,  or  carrying  it  home  in  triumph  after 
a  half-hour's  haggling  in  the  open  square.  These  thousands 
of  geese  were  interned  in  little  huts,  or  lay  helpless  on  the 
ground  with  their  legs  tied  together.  Occasionally  we  saw  a 
peasant  woman  with  a  goose  stuffed  into  the  loose  waist  of 
her  dress,  only  its  head  sticking  out,  and  looking  with  amused 
interest  apparently  at  the  busy  scene  around. 

The  art  of  Cracow  is  by  no  means  negligible.  The  churches 
are  adorned  with  some  masterpieces  by  Thorwaldsen,  and  by 
Peter  Vischer,  while  the  carved  wooden  altar  of  the  fifteenth 
century  by  Veit  Stoss,  a  native  of  Cracow,  is  greatly  admired 
by  connoisseurs.     Most  interesting  to  us,  however,  was  it  to 


414  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

remember  that  here  Copernicus  received  his  education  in  the 
ancient  university,  and  here  the  beautiful  statue  of  the  astron- 
omer stands  sentinel-like  in  the  ancient  cloister. 

The  Poles  have  been  as  distinguished  in  literature  as  in 
military  science.  In  front  of  the  Cracow  Tuch-Haus  is  a 
statue  of  the  great  poet  Mickiewicz  who  is  considered  by 
critics  the  equal  of  Wordsworth  or  Shelley  as  a  nature-poet. 
One  sees  his  statue  everywhere  throughout  Poland,  but  Cracow 
possesses  the  noblest  one  of  all.  Here  too,  Lelewel,  who  has 
been  called  the  Polish  Tolstoy,  and  Anton  Malczewski, 
another  immensely  popular  poet,  are  honored,  while  the 
modern  Sienkiewicz,  who  is  as  well  known  in  America  as  in 
Poland  because  of  his  great  story  "  Quo  Vadis,"  and  other  his- 
torical novels,  is  also  a  name  to  conjure  by  in  Cracow. 

Lemburg,  then  the  capital  of  Austrian  Poland,  though  a 
larger  and  more  bustling  city  than  Cracow,  is  by  no  means 
as  interesting  historically,  or  from  the  standpoint  of  art  and 
architecture.  Here  I  remember  with  pleasure,  my  interpreter, 
a  Jew  who  was  especially  gifted  linguistically.  He  was  on 
his  wedding  tour,  and  so  ever  joyed  was  he  with  his  good  for- 
tune that  whenever  we  congratulated  him  upon  his  marriage, 
or  spoke  appreciatively  of  his  "  dear  wife,"  the  water  welled 
up  into  his  eyes,  and  once  he  actually  burst  into  tears.  He 
was  the  only  man  in  my  acquaintance  whose  connubial  bliss  was 
exhibited  in  this  extraordinary  manner. 

However,  he  was  a  most  excellent  interpreter,  as  I  had  occa- 
sion to  know  not  only  in  Lemburg,  but  in  Leipsic  where  he 
had  previously  translated  one  of  my  addresses. 

Great  numbers  of  Ruthenians,  or  "  Little  Russians,"  live 
in  the  vicinity  of  Lemburg,  and  though  looked  down  upon  as 
inferiors  by  the  Poles,  they  hold  their  heads  very  high  and  will 
not  take  any  "  back  talk  "  from  their  neighbors,  as  the  boys 
would  say.  On  one  patriotic  occasion,  I  was  told,  a  procession 
of  Ruthenians  marched  into  Lemburg,  or  Lwow  as  the  city 
is  called  in  Polish,  the  women  arrayed  in  their  best  finery,  all 


IN    OLD    HOMES    OF    NEW    AMERICANS  415 

the  men  wearing  stove-pipe  hats,  and  many  of  both  sexes 
sporting  eye-glasses  or  lorgnettes  to  show  that  they  were  as 
well  educated  and  as  literary  as  the  Poles.  The  most  inter- 
esting, if  not  the  finest,  building  in  Lemburg  that  I  recollect 
is  the  headquarters  of  the  Ruthenian  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany, which  in  the  tiles  on  the  outside  bears  specimens  of 
Ruthenian  handicrafts,  representing  the  colored  embroidery 
and  art  needle-work  of  Ruthenian  women,  a  standing  monu- 
ment visible  to  every  visitor,  of  the  artistic  dexterity  of  this 
people. 

All  this  country,  as  we  know,  has  been  ravaged  time  and 
again  by  the  hostile  armies  in  the  mighty  conflict  which  began 
in  1 9 14,  yet  how  peaceful  was  the  scene  in  191 1!  the  shep- 
herds in  their  great  sheepskin  coats,  each  of  which  made  a 
sort  of  tent  for  its  wearer,  watched  their  flocks  on  the  hill- 
sides. The  goose  girls  in  every  valley  and  meadow,  industri- 
ously knitting  as  they  walked  along,  led  their  white  and  noisy 
flocks  to  new  pastures  beside  still  waters.  The  farmers 
ploughed  the  soil  with  their  primitive  instruments,  little  real- 
izing that  this  same  soil  w^ould  soon  be  ploughed  by  the 
shrieking  shells  of  opposing  armies. 

Through  Przemysl  and  Stanislaus,  that  figured  in  our 
papers  for  months  as  the  great  centres  of  death  and  destruc- 
tion, we  passed  on  our  way  to  Czernovitz,  the  capital  of  the 
Bukowina,  which  the  fortunes  of  war  tw^ce  gave  into  the 
hands  of  the  Russians,  and  then  passed  over  once  more  to  their 
temporary  Austrian  victors. 

We  found  Czernovitz  interesting  because  of  its  comparative 
aloofness  from  the  rest  of  the  world.  It  is  a  very  considerable 
city,  where  a  Kodak  camera  was  still  a  great  curiosity,  and 
when  Mrs.  Clark  went  out  into  the  market  place  to  snap  some 
rare  Bukowino  costumes  she  was  almost  mobbed  by  a  crowd 
of  men  and  boys  and  market  women  who  wanted  to  look  into 
the  eye  of  the  camera  to  see  the  picture  that  she  had  taken, 
and  who  were  also  extremely  eager  to  be  "  took  "  themselves. 


4.l6  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Indeed  so  close  did  the  eager  crowd  press  around  her  that  I  had 
to  sally  out  from  the  hotel,  which  overlooked  the  market  place, 
and  by  physical  force  rescue  her  from  their  friendly  curiosity. 

Yet  Czernovitz  does  by  no  means  consider  itself  a  primitive 
back  number.  Here  is  an  arch-episcopal  residence  of  the 
Greek  Church,  a  cathedral,  and  a  university  with  a  considerable 
number  of  students,  who  swaggered  around  in  their  different 
colored  corps  caps,  leading  a  big  corps-hound  on  a  chain,  in 
humble  imitation  of  Heidelburg  and  Bonn. 

Our  journey  from  Czernovitz  to  Bucharest  was  a  hard  all- 
night  ride  in  a  second-class  car  with  no  "  lying  down  accom- 
modations," and  we  were  thoroughly  wearied  when  early  the 
next  morning  we  reached  the  bright  little  Parisian  capital  of 
Roumania. 

Whether  Bucharest  is  always  as  crowded  as  on  that  bright, 
cold  morning  in  November  I  know  not,  but  we  tried  hotel 
after  hotel  in  vain  for  accommodations.  The  polite  landlord 
at  one  hostelry  would  commend  us  to  the  hotel  across  the 
street,  declaring  that  every  room  in  his  house  was  occupied. 
Mr.  Proprietor  across  the  street  would  commend  us  to  the 
Boniface  around  the  corner,  and  Mr.  Round-the-Corner  would 
assure  us  that  we  could  find  splendid  accommodations  at  Mr. 
Down-the-Street's,  while  Mr.  Down-the-Street  turned  us  back 
on  our  tracks  towards  the  station,  where  at  last,  in  the  ninth 
story  of  a  very  unpretentious  hotel,  with  a  very  pretentious 
name,  the  "  Hotel  Splendid,"  we  found  accommodations  for 
a  day  or  two. 

There  were  fe,w  gayer  cities  in  the  world  in  those  pre-war 
days  than  Bucharest,  and  she  had  good  reason  to  be  proud 
of  her  palace,  her  splendid  public  buildings,  and  her  fine 
shops.  I  do  not  recall  a  more  beautiful  post-office  building 
than  that  which  Bucharest  boasts.  The  substantial  post-office 
buildings  in  New  York  and  Boston  are  quite  put  to  the  blush 
by  this  artistic  creation. 

There  was  evidently  no  premonitory  cloud  of  coming  dis- 


IN    OLD    HOMES    OF    NEW    AMERICANS  417 

aster  in  the  sky  in  those  days.  As  in  Belgium's  capital,  before 
Waterloo,  "  there  was  a  sound  of  revelry  by  night,"  the 
people  prided  themselves  on  being  considered  as  gay,  if  not 
quite  as  wicked,  as  Paris.  Gorgeous,  high-powered  automobiles 
raced  through  the  streets,  most  of  them  blowing  musical  horns 
which  are  so  much  more  melodious  than  the  "  honk,  honk," 
of  our  Cadillacs  and  Fords.  The  people  thoroughly  believed 
that  their  invincible  army  could  defend  them  from  all  foes. 
How  little  any  of  us  knew  of  the  disastrous  days  which  the 
fates  were  even  then  weaving  in  their  mysterious  loom! 

It  was  indeed  a  zigzag  journey  which  we  had  undertaken, 
and  its  next  lap  took  us  to  Cronstadt  in  Transylvania  (Brasso 
in  Hungarian)  the  chief  town  of  Transylvania.  This  is  a 
bright  and  enterprising  little  city,  with  fine  mountains  to  the 
east,  and  the  interminable  rich  plains  of  Hungary,  stretching 
to  the  west  as  far  as  Budapest.  Here,  too,  the  Endeavor  move- 
ment had  found  a  foothold,  and  we  made  some  delightful 
friends  in  this  heart  of  the  Carpathians. 

The  fortunes  of  war  and  the  evil  fortunes  of  the  unjust 
treaty  of  Versailles,  have  transferred  all  this  region  from 
Hungary  to  Roumania,  a  disastrous  transfer  so  far  as  Hungary 
is  concerned,  and  especially  disastrous  to  the  Protestant 
churches  of  that  ravaged  state. 

Another  zigzag  of  our  journey  took  us  into  Croatia,  and  to 
its  charming  little  capital  of  Zagreb,  or  Agram,  as  the  German 
name  then  appeared  upon  the  map.  I  was  surprised  to  find 
here  a  city  whose  name  I  am  ashamed  to  say  I  had  never  heard 
six  months  before,  a  thriving  little  metropolis  with  a  univer- 
sity of  its  own,  some  beautiful  parks  and  historic  monuments 
of  which  the  people  are  quite  as  proud  as  are  we  of  Bunker 
Hill  monument  or  the  Minute  Man  of  Concord. 

To  be  sure  the  Croatians  had  not  enjoyed  even  nominal 
independence  for  nearly  a  thousand  years,  having  been  under 
the  heel  of  the  Hapsburg  monarchy  for  centuries,  but  they 
hark  back  to  the  great  days  of  King  Jellacic  and  they  show  us 


41 8  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

proudly  the  holes  in  the  stones  in  front  of  St.  Mark's  church, 
where  were  the  five  iron  bars  to  which  their  last  king  was 
bound  when  he  was  burned  at  the  stake  by  his  cruel  captors. 
Then  ended  the  Golden  Age  of  Croatian  independence,  but 
their  natural  love  of  freedom  and  hatred  of  their  overlords 
made  the  Croats  firm  friends  of  the  Entente  Allies  even 
though  they  could  not  help  them  to  win  the  war.  They  have 
since  obtained  their  independence  as  part  of  the  new  Kingdom 
of  the  Serbs,  Croats,  and  Slovenes. 

Here  in  Agram  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  my  good  friend 
Samuel  Schumacher,  a  teacher  in  the  Lutheran  school,  who 
gave  all  his  vacation  time  to  the  propagation  of  Christian  En- 
deavor, not  only  in  Croatia,  but  in  Servia,  Slavonia,  Roumania, 
and  Herzegovina.  He  was  a  most  devoted  and  unselfish  man, 
and  I  shall  not  forget  his  pathetic  letter  which  he  wrote  just 
after  the  war  broke  out,  saying  that  now  at  the  call  of  his 
Emperor  he  must  join  the  colors  and  carry  the  sword  and 
the  rifle  to  the  very  people  to  whom  he  had  just  been  telling 
of  the  gospel  of  the  Prince  of  Peace.  I  shall  have  more  to 
tell  about  this  good  man  in  a  later  chapter. 

Late  one  evening  as  we  returned  from  a  meeting  in  Agram, 
I  saw  a  throng  of  several  hundred  men,  women  and  children 
marching  along  the  streets,  loaded  with  bundles  and  bags  of 
all  shapes  and  sizes  from  feather  beds  to  tin  kerosene  cans. 
These  I  was  told  were  emigrants  about  to  start  for  America,  a 
thousand  of  whom  gathered  there  every  week  from  the 
country  round  about,  for  Croatia  is  one  of  the  old  homes  of 
the  millions  of  new  Americans  who  during  the  last  quarter  of 
a  century  have  left  Austro-Hungary  for  the  New  World,  — 
an  unprecedented  immigration  which  only  the  Great  War  of 
the  Nations  and  our  new  laws  have  partially  stopped. 

The  next  day  we  found  many  of  these  same  would-be- 
Americans  on  the  train  that  bore  us  to  Trieste  from  which 
place,  with  them,  we  were  to  sail,  stopping  short  however  at 
Patras,  while  they  kept  on,  bound  for  the  land  of  boundless 


IN    OLD    HOMES    OF    NEW    AMERICANS  419 

hope.  They  were  a  rough,  sturdy,  but  good-natured,  patient, 
and  cheerful  crowd,  making  their  fourth-class  cars  ring  with 
their  native  songs,  and  taking  with  them  to  America  brawny 
arms,  stout  hearts,  and  cheerful  courage  which  I  believe  will 
in  time  make  them  worthy  citizens  of  our  Republic. 


Chapter   XXXVII 
Years  191  i— 19 12 

A    WINTER    IN    ATHENS 

corinth  on  the  gulf  fishermen  and  turkey-women 

—  Phoebe's  old   home   in  cenchrea  —  the  glories 

of  athens interesting  sights  from  our  window 

an  interview  with  king  george. 

E  BADE  good-by  to  our  fellow-Americans- 
of-the-future  at  Patras,  and  immediately 
boarded  the  little  train  which  once  a  day 
crawled  slowly  along  the  shores  of  the  Gulf 
of  Corinth  to  Athens.  Its  leisureliness  is 
much  to  the  advantage  of  the  unhurried 
traveller,  for  it  gives  him  the  opportunity  of  getting  many 
long  views  of  delightful  scenery  and  more  than  passing 
glimpses  of  many  Greek  villages  which  the  train  never  seemed 
in  a  hurry  to  leave.  At  length  we  came  in  sight  of  a  sym- 
metrical truncate  sugar-loaf  mountain  and  remembered  from 
previous  visits  that  it  was  none  other  than  Aero-Corinth  the 
famous  citadel  of  Old  Corinth,  In  a  few  minutes  the  con- 
ductor called  out  "  Corinthos,"  and  we  disembarked  for  a  few 
days'  stay  in  the  modern  village  which  is  so  unworthy  of  its 
ancient  name  and  fame. 

However  dilapidated  and  forlorn  modern  Corinth  may  be, 
no  traveller  with  a  spark  of  imagination  can  fail  to  be  impressed 
with  the  events  of  mighty  moment  which  have  taken  place 
on  the  shores  of  its  blue  gulf. 

Though  modern  Corinth  does  not  stand  upon  the  site  of 
the  great  city  of  Greek  and  Roman  times,  which  was  some 

420 


A    WINTER    IN    ATHENS  421 

three  miles  away  under  protecting  hills,  yet  this  whole  region 
is  saturated  with  the  memories  of  heroic  deeds  of  old.  At  two 
different  periods,  once  under  the  Greeks,  and  once  under  the 
Romans,  Corinth  was  in  many  respects  the  most  important 
city  in  the  world.  It  controlled  the  trade  routes  between  the 
East  and  the  West.  It  was  the  seat  of  learning  as  well  as  of 
wealth  and  political  supremacy.  It  was  the  city  where  Paul 
spent  many  months  with  his  friends  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  from 
which  he  wrote  his  earliest  epistle,  the  one  to  the  Thessalonians, 
and  to  which  he  wrote  important  letters. 

The  present  town  has  little  to  detain  the  traveller  except  as 
he  is  interested  in  the  life  of  modern  Greece.  Yet  with  the 
thought  of  the  past  in  mind  even  homely,  commonplace 
events  are  gilded  with  the  radiance  of  the  past  centuries.  We 
were  interested  in  the  fishermen  who  every  morning  rowed 
far  out  into  the  Gulf  of  Corinth,  and,  when  a  mile  or  more 
from  the  shore,  threw  out  their  drag-net  which  twenty  brawny 
companions  on  the  shore  began  to  draw  in,  hand  over  hand. 

It  ,would  often  take  a  couple  of  hours  to  make  a  single  haul, 
and  then  the  loot  was  frequently  of  small  account,  being,  per- 
haps, half  a  bushel  of  tiny  fish  of  the  sardine  family.  But 
the  great  joy  of  fishing  in  the  Gulf  of  Corinth,  as  well  as  in 
the  Maine  woods,  or  the  Adirondacks,  is  the  uncertainty  of  the 
haul.  It  is  the  gambler's  chance  that  makes  the  patient  fisher- 
man. The  next  cast  of  the  fly,  the  next  haul  of  the  net,  may 
bring  the  prize  of  the  day,  so  that  one's  interest  is  always  kept 
on  the  qui  vive,  and  though  fishermen  have  been  dragging 
the  waters  of  the  Gulf  of  Corinth  for  thousands  of  years,  they 
still  manage  to  draw  their  little  crowd  of  interested  spectators 
to  the  shore  every  morning  as  in  St.  Paul's  time. 

The  turkey-women  were  another  source  of  mild  interest. 
With  a  long  wand  they  would  drive  their  errant  flock  every 
morning  through  the  streets  of  Corinth,  keeping  them  sur- 
prisingly well  in  hand.  The  Corinthians  who  desired  a  turkey 
dinner  would  meet  the  flock  somewhere  on  the  long  street, 


422  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

and  with  the  help  of  the  driver  .would  pick  out  a  promising 
specimen  which,  after  much  chasing  and  vociferous  gobbling 
on  the  part  of  the  victim,  was  caught  and  ignominiously  felt  of 
by  the  prospective  buyer.  If  he  was  satisfied  with  the  plump- 
ness and  tenderness  of  the  fowl  a  bargain  was  struck  after 
much  haggling,  and  he  would  bear  away  his  prize  in  triumph. 

For  the  second  time  within  a  few  years  we  made  a  most 
interesting  visit  to  the  ruins  of  ancient  Corinth,  which  to  a 
considerable  extent  has  been  unearthed  by  the  American  School 
of  Archaeology,  though  much  yet  remains  to  be  discovered. 
However  here  are  some  of  the  marble  streets  laid  bare,  which 
must  have  been  trodden  by  the  feet  of  statemen  and  kings, 
apostles  and  martyrs.  We  took  pleasure  in  imagining  that 
one  of  the  circular  shops  whose  ruins  are  exposed  was  the 
very  one  owned  by  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  where  St.  Paul 
wrought  with  his  tent-needle,  and  we  were  especially  inter- 
ested in  a  fragment  of  a  marble  tablet  preserved  in  the  little 
museum  bearing  in  Greek  letters  the  word  Synagogue  which 
undoubtedly  was  placed  over  the  door  of  the  one  synagogue 
in  Corinth,  where,  according  to  St.  Luke,  "  St.  Paul  reasoned 
every  Sabbath  and  persuaded  the  Jews  and  the  Greeks." 

As  we  were  anxious,  upon  this  and  a  succeeding  journey  to 
visit  every  possible  place  made  famous  by  the  great  Apostle, 
we  took  special  pains  to  visit  Cenchrea,  which  few  travellers 
in  these  days  think  it  worth  while  to  attempt.  Baedeker 
gives  it  scarcely  a  line,  yet  this  proved  to  be  to  us  one  of  the 
most  interesting  of  all  our  excursions. 

The  road  thither  was  exceedingly  rough  and  barely  passable 
for  the  antiquated  hack  which  we  engaged.  So  deep  were  the 
ruts  that  the  driver  had  to  throw  himself  dexterously  from 
one  side  of  his  seat  to  the  other,  a  gymnastic  performance  in 
which  we  also  assisted,  to  prevent  the  carriage  from  overturn- 
ing at  certain  critical  points.  Indeed  the  road  came  to  an 
abrupt  end  when  we  were  within  half  a  mile  of  Cenchrea. 
And  yet  this  was  once  one  of  the  magnificent  highways  of  the 


A    WINTER    IN    ATHENS  423 

world,  connecting  the  two  ports  of  Corinth,  the  one  on  the 
Gulf,  and  the  other  on  the  Aegean  Sea.  Over  this  road  passed 
the  wealth  of  the  world.  It  is  said  to  have  been  enclosed  at 
one  time  by  high  walls  stretching  the  whole  distance  between 
the  seas,  —  about  eight  miles. 

When  we  reached  the  site  of  ancient  Cenchrea,  in  whose 
port  once  rode  the  navies  of  the  nations,  we  found  it  abso- 
lutely desolate.  Not  even  a  ruin  on  the  shore  showed  where 
the  busy  seaport  once  was,  though  a  few  great  blocks  of  stone, 
half  under  the  water,  indicated  the  site  of  the  wharves.  It 
was  a  most  peaceful  and  lovely  scene.  The  bright  waters  of 
the  Aegean,  dotted  with  many  islands  and  surrounded  on  all 
sides  by  lofty,  verdure -clad  hills  indicated  one  of  the  most 
charming  spots  for  a  summer  resort  that  could  be  imagined, 
and  we  said  to  ourselves,  "If  this  were  only  in  Switzerland, 
how  the  tourist  hotels  and  funicular  railways  would  spring  up 
almost  over  night!  " 

We  rejoiced  that  the  tourist  had  not  discovered  this  little 
Paradise,  but  that  here  we  could  dream  of  the  ancient  days 
whose  glories  have  forever  passed  awayj  of  the  great  apostle 
to  the  Gentiles  coming  here  from  Corinth  to  "  fulfil  his  vow," 
and  from  here  sailing  for  Ephesus  on  his  way  to  Jerusalem 
on  one  of  the  missionary  journeys  which  did  so  much  to  make 
over  the  old  heathen  world. 

In  all  the  wide  landscape  we  saw  but  two  living  creatures, 
a  man  and  a  horse  ploughing  a  distant  hillside.  No  house  is 
visible  from  the  shore,  but  a  little  distance  back  is  the  humblest 
and  smallest  of  Greek  churches  which  it  was  ever  my  lot  to 
enter.  A  rude  painting  of  the  Christ  stood  upon  the  floor.  A 
cheap  icon  was  in  one  cornerj  a  rough  altar  and  some  candle 
spikes  covered  with  the  drippings  of  years  were  all  the  furni- 
ture that  the  little  church  contained.  We  naturally  thought  of 
"  the  church  that  was  in  Cenchrea  "  of  which  Paul  spoke  in 
his  letter  to  the  Romans,  and  of  the  faithful  Phoebe,  a  mem- 
ber of  this  church,  whom  he  honored  by  committing  to  her 


424  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

this  noble  epistle  that  she  might  carry  it  to  the  Christians  in 
Rome. 

Nearly  three  months  on  this  occasion  we  spent  in  historic 
Athens,  which  we  found  was  an  unexpectedly  enjoyable  place 
for  a  winter  residence.  The  hotels  were  comfortable,  and, 
with  one  or  two  exceptions,  by  no  means  extravagant  in  their 
charges.  I  am  speaking  of  their  normal  condition  before  the 
great  war.  The  sun  shines  much  of  the  time,  giving  ample 
heat  on  a  bright  day  for  the  fireless  rooms,  and  though  occa- 
sional frosty  days  and  snow-squalls  varied  the  monotony  of 


Ruins  of  Temple  of  Jupiter  in  Athens 
The  Acropolis  in  the  distance  on  the  left. 

the  climate,  we  were  able  to  endure  them  without  too  much 
discomfort  by  the  aid  of  a  small  "  spirit-of-wine  stove  "  and 
plenty  of  wraps. 

Every  morning  we  worked  busily  over  the  volumes  I  had 
in  preparation  "  Old  Homes  of  New  Americans,"  the  homes 
which  I  had  just  visited  in  Austria-Hungary,  and  "  In  the  Foot- 
steps of  St.  Paul,"  whose  steps  we  had  been  following  on  this 
journey,  and  were  tracing  almost  every  day  during  our  stay 
in  Athens.  The  great  delight  of  a  residence  in  Ath.ens  is  in 
its  innumerable  interesting  walks  and  its  incomparable  views. 
In  these  we  indulged  every  pleasant  afternoon.     Of  course 


A    WINTER    IN    ATHENS  425 

we  followed  St.  Paul  many  times  to  Mars  Hill,  and  journeyed 
with  him  from  the  Piraeus  where  he  disembarked,  through  the 
long  walk  once  enclosed  between  high  walls  and  crowded  with 
statues,  to  the  Agora  or  market-place. 

Frequently  we  watched  from  the  Acropolis  the  sun  setting 
in  a  blaze  of  glory j  or  sat  on  the  marble  seats  of  the  stadium 
and  recalled  the  athletic  triumphs  of  the  pastj  or  viewed  from 
the  top  of  Lycabettus  the  most  magnificent  historic  panorama 
in  the  world.  All  these  joys  far  more  than  made  up  for  the 
small  discomforts  of  hotel  life  in  the  city  of  Timon  and 
Pericles. 

Even  without  the  supreme  attraction  of  her  antiquities, 
Athens  is  to-day  a  peculiarly  interesting  city,  and  when  we 
remember  that  scarcely  more  than  seventy  years  ago  she  was  an 
unkempt,  dilapidated  town,  ravaged  by  centuries  of  Turkish 
misrule,  we  wondered  the  more  at  her  bright,  clean  streets,  her 
well-kept  shops,  filled  with  the  products  of  many  climes,  her 
beautiful  university,  her  wonderful  museum  and  her  public 
buildings,  well  worthy  of  any  prosperous  nation  of  twice  her 
size.  I  am  speaking  of  Athens  before  the  World  War  in 
which  Greece  played  a  foolish  part.  What  she  looks  like  now, 
I  cannot  say. 

There  was  always  something  of  interest  to  be  seen  from  our 
windows  which  faced  on  Constitution  Square  and  the  Rue  du 
Stade.  The  Greeks  are  an  excitable  people,  and  every  Greek  is 
a  potential  politician  or  general  of  the  army.  If  New  York 
had  as  many  daily  papers  in  proportion  to  her  population  as 
has  Athens,  they  would  be  numbered  by  hundreds.  A  crisis 
was  impending  every  day,  even  in  those  peaceful  times,  while 
the  crowds  of  excited  gesticulating  people  at  the  street  corners 
and  in  the  cafes  confirmed  the  impression  that  Athenians  are 
still  "  eager  to  hear  or  to  see  some  new  thing." 

Gala  days  are  numerous  in  Athens,  and  troops  of  soldiers 
were  constantly  marching  through  the  streets  j  the  royal  guards 
seeming   particularly    effeminate    in   their   pleated    skirts    or 


426  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

fustanellas.  Though  they  looked  like  ballet  girls,  they  could 
fight  like  heroes,  as  they  proved  on  more  than  one  occasion  in 
the  World  War. 

Sad  processions  often  fqllowed  the  gay  through  the  busy 
streets,  for  almost  every  day  a  corpse  was  borne  past  our 
windows  to  its  last  resting-place  in  the  beautiful  cemetery 
on  the  outskirts  of  the  town.  The  officiating  priests  were 
always  clad  in  gorgeous  raiment  and  marched  at  the  head  of 
the  funeral  procession.  Then  came  two  men  bearing  the  coffin 
lid  held  upright,'  then  many  carriages  loaded  with  flowers, 
and  then  the  coffin,  borne  on  the  shoulders  of  several  bearers, 
with  the  face  exposed  to  every  passer-by. 

To  wander  through  the  shopping  streets  revived  classic 
memories,  for  each  one  has  some  name  that  takes  one  back 
to  his  schooldays  of  Greek  mythology  or  history. 

In  one  of  Poe's  stories  a  reluctant  father  promises  his 
daughter  to  a  suitor  when  two  Sundays  come  together  in  one 
week.  Nothing  daunted,  the  suitor  accepts  the  challenge  and 
in  going  around  the  world  gains  an  extra  Sunday  in  the  week 
that  he  returns  to  his  out-witted  father-in-law.  If  we  did  not 
have  two  Sundays  in  a  week  we  at  least  had  in  Athens  two 
Christmas  days  and  two  New  Year's  days  in  one  year,  for  the 
Greeks  follow  the  old  Julian  calendar,  which  puts  their  year 
thirteen  days  later  than  ours. 

Christmas  day  is  not  observed  with  unusual  festivities,  but 
New  Year's  eve  was  a  time  of  wild  hilarity.  The  streets 
were  so  crowded  as  to  be  almost  impassable.  They  were 
carpeted  with  confetti,  and  the  hats  and  shoulders  of  every 
passer-by  were  powdered  with  the  little  flying  discs  of  colored 
paper.  Miles  of  narrow  paper  ribbon,  called  in  Germany 
Schlangen,  were  thrown  from  every  balcony,  festooning  the 
streets  from  side  to  side,  and  entangling  the  feet  of  the 
passers-by  in  a  cobweb  net. 

Men  and  boys  and  girls  alike  blew  horns  vociferously 
throughout  the  evening  and  late  into  the  night.     On  New 


A    WINTER    IN    ATHENS  427 

Year's  day  came  a  solemn  procession  and  service  in  the  cathe- 
dral, attended  by  the  royalties  and  diplomats,  and  every 
"  Who's  Who  "  individual  in  Athens.  From  our  window  we 
could  see  the  great  white  palace  of  the  king,  which  a  few  years 
before  had  been  partially  burned  down,  and  was  very  slowly 
being  repaired,  while  the  approaches  to  it,  and  even  the  en- 
trance to  the  royal  chapel,  were  in  a  most  shockingly  unkempt 
condition. 

The  average  Greek  whom  we  met  had  very  little  use  for 
royalty.  One  of  them  told  us  that  King  George  was  a  good 
man  w^ho  did  no  harm,  a  good  deal  like  "  a  fly  on  the  wall," 
as  he  expressed  it. 

Through  the  kindness  of  United  States  Minister  ^  Moses, 
now  Senator  Moses,  I  had  an  interesting  interview  with  King 
George,  who  soon  afterwards  was  foully  assassinated  in  the 
streets  of  Salonica.  He  was  a  genial  and  friendly  potentate, 
who  owed  his  long  and  peaceful  reign  to  his  kinship  with  half 
the  rulers  of  Europe.  He  was  the  son  of  the  King  of  Den- 
mark, a  brother-in-law  of  the  late  King  Edward  of  Great 
Britain,  and  uncle  of  the  Czar  Nicholas  of  Russia,  uncle 
of  the  King  of  Norway,  and  he  was  related  to  Kaiser  William 
of  Germany,     Few  could  boast  more  royal  relatives. 

I  respected  him  particularly  for  sticking  to  his  religion,  the 
religion  of  his  ancestors.  He  was  one  of  the  very  few 
Protestants  in  his  domains,  where  the  religion  of  the  Greek 
Church  is  almost  synonymous  with  patriotism  and  loyalty. 
Yet  he  retained  his  allegiance  to  the  Lutheran  church  to  the 
end  of  his  life,  and  built  a  chapel  within  the  palace  w^here 
Lutheran  services  WTre  held  every  Sunday,  which  anyone  was 
free  to  attend.  When  he  asked  about  my  faith,  he  replied 
to  my  avowal  of  Protestantism,  "  I,  too,  am  a  Protestant. 
Don't  you  think  we  have  a  fine  little  chapel  and  a  good  minis- 
ter to  preach  to  us  every  Sunday?  " 

One  of  the  conditions,  however,  to  which  he  agreed  when 
he  ascended  the  throne  was  that  his  children  should  be  brought 


428  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

up  in  the  Greek  faith,  the  faith  of  their  mother,  who  was  a 
Russian  princess.  King  Constantine,  who  was  often  seen 
upon  the  streets,  then  the  Crown  Prince,  is  a  devout  mem- 
ber of  the  Orthodox  Greek  Church,  as  are  all  the  members 
of  his  family.  He  afterwards  figured  largely  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world,  and  by  the  Entente  Powers  was  considered  a 
perfidious  monarch,  playing  into  the  hands  of  their  enemies. 

Greece,  being  overwhelmingly,  indeed  almost  unanimously 
devoted  to  the  Greek  Church,  there  is  little  room  for  Protes- 
tantism, and  consequently  none  for  Christian  Endeavor  soci- 
eties, so  that  calls  for  public  addresses  were  fewer  than  in 
almost  any  city  we  could  visit. 

There  is,  it  is  true,  one  small  church  of  the  reformed  faith 
in  Athens,  founded  by  the  late  Dr.  Kalopothakes,  eminent  in 
the  brief  and  scanty  history  of  Protestantism  in  Greece.  Here 
we  occasionally  attended  the  services,  but  as  they  were  in 
the  Greek  tongue  ,we  more  often  went  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, or  to  the  German  service  in  the  palace. 

The  pastor  of  the  Greek  Protestant  Church  was  a  worthy 
man  whose  hands  were  stayed  up  by  the  son  and  daughter 
of  Dr.  Kalopothakes  and  a  small  congregation  of  believers. 
On  one  occasion  he  asked  me  to  baptize  his  little  son,  a  sturdy 
infant  of  two  years  of  age.  The  parents  had  been  waiting 
for  two  years  for  the  arrival  of  a  Protestant  minister  who 
might  perform  the  ceremony,  but  they  desired  that  it  should 
be  according  to  the  Greek  custom  of  triune  immersion. 

The  parlor  of  the  pastor's  house  was  filled  with  friends  and 
parishioners  to  witness  the  ceremony.  A  large,  deep  tub  was 
brought  into  the  room  and  filled  with  tepid  water.  Then  the 
infant,  who  was  old  enough  to  be  frightened  by  these  prepar- 
ations, and  doubly  enraged  at  being  handed  over  to  a  stranger, 
was  given  to  me  for  the  ceremony,  which  proved  to  be  a 
serious  and  trying  one. 

Had  he  been  but  a  few  weeks  old  the  rite  of  immersing 
him  three  times,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the 


A    WINTER    IN    ATHENS 


429 


Holy  Ghost,  .would  have  been  a  comparatively  easy  one,  as  I 
had  found  it  on  another  occasion  when  baptizing  the  son  of 
a  Greek  parishioner  in  Boston.  But  this  lusty  boy  had  no 
notion  of  being  immersed.  He  braced  his  little  feet  against 
the  sides  of  the  tub,  screaming  with  all  his  might,  and  abso- 
lutely refused  to  allow  his  head  to  be  put  under,  doubtless 
thinking  that  he  was  about  to  be  drowned.  I  did  the  best  1 
could,  but  it  was  far  from  being  a  satisfactory  service  to  either 
the  parents  or  the  officiating  minister.     Had  it  not  been  for 


Mars  Hill,  Athens 
On  which  Paul  preached  his  great  sermon  to  the  Athenians. 

the  solemnity  of  the  occasion  my  struggles  with  the  child 
would  have  seemed  supremely  ridiculous.  But  the  parents 
and  friends  realized  that  I  had  done  the  best  I  could  under 
the  circumstances,  and  the  ceremony  was  concluded  with  the 
usual  congratulations,  and  the  passing  around  of  abundant 
sweetmeats  and  confections. 

Whether  it  is  true  or  not  that  "  man  wants  but  little  here 
below,"  Mrs.  Clark  and  I  were  obliged  to  be  contented  for 
several  months  during  our  stay  in  Athens  with  a  very  meagre 


430  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

amount  of  wearing  apparel,  —  nothing  more  indeed  than  we 
could  carry  in  our  suit-cases.  The  two  trunks  w^hich  we  had 
sent  from  Rotterdam  to  Athens  failed  to  make  their  ap- 
pearance. Day  after  day  we  haunted  the  office  of  "  thomas 
COOK  "er  utos,"  but  we  could  get  no  word  from  our  wander- 
ing trunks.  Letters  and  cablegrams  were  dispatched  but 
brought  no  satisfactory  answers.  At  length  we  received  word 
that  they  were  traced  to  Vienna  and  Budapest.  After  about 
three  months  word  came  that  they  had  arrived  at  Salonica,  but 
would  be  sent  no  further,  as  they  were  billed  to  go  through 
by  rail,  and  there  was  no  rail  communication  between  Salonica 
and  Athens. 

Evidently  the  shippers  in  Rotterdam  had  small  knowledge 
of  geography,  or  the  routes  of  travel.  There  was  nothing 
for  it  but  to  follow  our  trunks  to  Salonica.  The  mountain 
had  to  go  to  Mahomet,  and  after  a  three  days'  journey  by 
sea  we  found  them  in  the  custom  house,  none  the  worse  for 
their  long  tour,  but  of  little  value  to  us  for  the  time  being, 
since  we  could  not  take  them  on  our  journey  to  Asia  Minor. 
So  we  sent  them  home  to  America  where  they  arrived  in  due 
time,  having  scarcely  been  unlocked  from  the  time  we  left 
Boston.  Such  are  some  of  the  joys  of  journeying,  but 
"  travellers  must  be  content." 


Chapter  XXXVIII 
Year  19 12 

IN   THE   FOOTSTEPS   OF  ST.  PAUL 

PART  I 

OLD      THESSALONICA PRISON      OF      THE      GREAT      ASSASSIN  

SEVENTY    BURIED    CHURCHES    OF    BEREA WHERE    PAUL 

FIRST    SET    FOOT    IN    EUROPE  - 
HISTORY. 


PHILIPPI,    ITS    DRAMATIC 


(T  HAD  long  been  our  ambition  since  visiting 
some  of  the  cities  made  famous  by  St.  Paul 
to  complete  the  circuit,  and  if  possible  see 
every  one  of  the  places  which  he  made 
famous  by  his  residence,  or  even  by  a  passing 
visit,  in  his  many  missionary  journeys.  The 
opportunity  was  too  good  to  be  lost,  and,  having  a  few  weeks 
at  our  disposal  before  other  duties  called  us  home,  we  resolved 
to  visit  as  many  of  St.  Paul's  cities  in  Asia  Minor  as  possible. 

Salonica  was  our  starting-point.  To  the  church  in  this 
ancient  capital  Paul  wrote  his  first  extant  epistle.  Here  he 
lived  for  some  months,  plying  his  tentmaker's  trade  before 
he  was  driven  out  by  the  persecutions  of  the  rabid  Jews.  Even 
were  it  not  for  these  historic  associations,  Salonica  would  still 
be  well  worthy  of  a  visit.  It  was  the  third  largest  port  in  the 
Turkish  Empire.  It  was  then  (1911)  in  the  hands  of  the 
Turks,  though  their  dominion  was  near  its  end.  The  Young 
Turks  were  in  power,  and  Abdul  Hamid  II,  the  "  Great 
Assassin,"  was  imprisoned  in  a  villa  in  the  outskirts  of  the 
city.     It  was  a  genuine  satisfaction  to  see  his  prison  house, 

431 


432  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Strongly  guarded  by  a  thousand  soldiers,  whose  camps  en- 
circled it,  and  to  know  that  the  astute  ruler  who  had  played 
his  cards  so  shrewdly  and  so  infamously,  and  had  so  long 
kept  alive  "  the  sick  man  of  Europe,"  was  now  put  where  he 
could  do  little  more  harm.  I  had  seen  him  go  to  mosque 
in  regal  splendor  in  1893,  guarded  by  I0,000  soldiers,  and 
now  he  was  a  prisoner  execrated  by  all. 

In  Salonica,  as  in  almost  every  considerable  town  of  the 
Near  East  the  American  missionaries  have  made  themselves 
felt,  and  Dr.  J.  H.  House  has  here  established  an  excellent 
industrial  school  for  boys  of  all  nationalities.  He  has  built 
a  typical  American  home  and  schoolhouse  in  a  sightly  location 
overlooking  the  Thermaic  Gulf,  with  magnificent  Mt.  Olym- 
pus, the  home  of  the  gods,  in  the  not-distant  background. 

In  a  memorable  excursion  from  Salonica  we  visited  the 
ancient  city  of  Berea,  to  which  the  apostle  was  driven  by 
Jewish  persecutions,  and  whose  people  he  found  "  more  noble 
than  those  of  Thessalonica."  To-day  the  city  is  especially 
interesting  because  of  its  "  hidden  churches,"  of  which  there 
are  no  less  than  seventy,  belonging  to  the  Greek  Catholic 
faith.  Though  when  we  visited  them  it  was  no  longer  neces- 
sary to  hide  them  from  the  wrath  of  the  Mohammedans,  yet 
it  had  been  necessary  in  earlier  days. 

To  use  a  modern  term,  they  were  "  camouflaged  "  much  as 
ships  and  trenches  were  during  the  war.  Indeed,  so  well 
concealed  are  they  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  a  stranger 
to  find  them.  Fortunately  we  had  for  our  guide  a  Greek 
gentleman,  a  native  of  the  town,  who  had  made  the  study 
of  these  churches  a  specialty.  He  took  us  to  eight  of  them, 
hidden  in  the  most  obscure  and  out-of-the-way  nooks.  We 
would  enter  a  courtyard,  where  perhaps  a  woman  was  doing 
her  washing,  or  cooking  the  noon  meal,  and,  after  passing 
through  two  or  three  doorways,  we  would  see  another  in- 
conspicuous door,  on  which  a  rude  cross  was  chalked.  This 
would  prove  to  be  the  entrance  to  a  little  room  with  its  rude 


IN    THE    FOOTSTEPS    OF    ST.    PAUL  433 

icons,  its  altars,  and  its  candle  spikes,  .where,  on  certain  Sab- 
baths of  the  year,  services  are  still  held.  Many  of  these 
hidden  churches  had  a  double  exit,  or  perhaps  an  underground 
passage,  so  that  if  the  Turks  attacked  the  front  door,  the 
congregation  could  easily  escape  from  the  rear. 

In  191 1  Macedonia  was  in  a  very  excited  state  politically, 
and  deeds  of  violence  were  exceedingly  common.  Indeed  they 
have  been  common  ever  since.  Special  passports  for  travel 
had  to  be  obtained  for  every  station,  and  almost  at  the 
moment  that  we  entered  Berea  a  Turkish  policeman  was  shot 
by  an  Albanian,  who  was  allowed  to  get  away  without  even 
an  attempt  at  his  arrest.  The  poor  policeman  was  taken  back 
to  Salonica  on  the  train  by  which  we  returned  in  the  afternoon, 
and  he  died  on  the  way. 

There  are  no  undoubtedly  genuine  relics  of  St.  Paul's 
residence  in  Berea,  though  a  high  modern,  wooden  pulpit  in  an 
open,  grass-grown  square  is  called  by  his  name.  It  is  possible 
that  the  tradition  may  have  some  foundation  in  fact,  that  he 
there  preached  to  the  "  honorable  "  Bereans.  We  liked  to 
imagine  that  the  immense  cypress  trees  which  flanked  the 
square,  dated  back  to  St.  Paul's  time.  At  least  they  were  of 
great  antiquity,  and  one  which  had  been  cut  down,  seemed 
to  show  nearly  rings  enough  to  carry  its  infancy  back  to  the 
beginning  of  the  Christian  Era. 

Several  interesting  communities  find  their  homes  in 
Berea  J  the  Wallachians,  for  instance,  who  live  in  a  great 
compound  within  the  confines  of  the  city  during  the  winter 
months,  spending  the  summer  season  with  their  flocks  on  the 
hills.  The  Gypsies  have  a  whole  street  to  themselves  and 
are  for  the  most  part  tinkers  and  blacksmiths. 

The  chief  charm  of  modern  Berea  is  its  running  water  and 
its  many  fountains,  an  ancient  characteristic  from  which  it  de- 
rived its  name. 

Our  next  excursion  in  the  footsteps  of  St.  Paul  took  u-s 
with  Dr.  House  for  our  interpreter  and  guide  to  Kavalla  and 


434  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Philippi.  The  railway  which  connects  Salonica  with  Con- 
stantinople carried  us  as  far  as  Drama,  whose  name  at  one  time 
figured  extensively  in  the  records  of  the  great  war.  Here 
in  its  early  months  a  horrible  drama  indeed  was  enacted.  We 
found  there  a  Protestant  Bulgarian  church,  under  the  care 
of  the  American  missionaries,  with  a  native  pastor,  and  a 
flourishing  Endeavor  society.  But  we  could  not  linger  long 
with  our  Bulgarian  friends,  for  we  had  to  push  on  the  same 
night  with  the  aid  of  an  ancient  hack,  drawn  by  equally  aged 
horses,  to  Kavalla,  where  we  arrived  long  after  dark.  The 
ancient  name  of  Kavalla  was  Neapolis,  as  we  read  in  the  Book 
of  Acts.  It  is  a  town  of  peculiar  interest  to  modern  European 
Christians,  for  here  Paul  and  his  associates,  Silas,  Timothy, 
and  Luke,  first  set  foot  on  European  soil,  called  thither  by  the 
vision  of  the  man  of  Macedonia. 

Kavalla  is  now  one  of  the  most  flourishing  seaports  of 
the  East,  having  been  built  up  by  an  immense  trade  in  Turkish 
tobacco.  The  great  stone  tobacco  warehouses  and  the  palaces 
of  its  tobacco  magnates  give  evidence  of  the  chief  industry  of 
the  place.  But  indeed,  Kavalla,  or  Neapolis,  has  always  been 
a  place  of  importance.  It  could  hardly  be  otherwise,  with  its 
fine  harbor  and  its  proximity  to  Troas  on  the  Asian  coast. 
Here  Mohammed  Ali  was  born,  and  the  very  cradle  in  which 
he  was  rocked,  hung  from  the  low  roof  of  his  birthchamber, 
is  shown  to  the  traveller  to-day. 

A  splendid  Roman  aqueduct,  borne  on  arches  sixty  feet 
high,  is  still  in  good  preservation,  and  until  recently  it  brought 
water  to  the  thirsty  Neapolitans.  It  is  singular  how  popular 
the  ancient  name  of  this  city  is  in  every  land.  Italy  has  its 
Naples,  America  has  innumerable  Newtowns  and  Newtons, 
and  many  cities  of  the  name  of  Neapolis  are  scattered  through 
the  ancient  world.  Nablous  in  Syria  is  only  another  form  of 
the  same  word.  Sometime  in  the  remote  past  all  of  these 
places  were  new  towns,  or  new  cities,  however  ancient  they 
may  seem  to-day. 


IN    THE    FOOTSTEPS    OF    ST.    PAUL  435 

The  most  interesting  place  we  saw  in  Kavalla  was  the  soup- 
kitchen  endowed  by  Mohammed  Ali,  .where  once  a  week  every 
one  in  the  city,  be  he  resident  or  passing  visitor,  be  he  Moham- 
medan, Christian,  Jew,  or  Gentile,  can  obtain  a  square  meal, 
free  of  charge.  When  ,we  saw  it,  four-foot  logs  were  blazing 
under  the  huge  pots  which  contained  the  savory  mess  for  the 
next  day's  meal,  though  we  did  not  have  a  chance  to  test 
Mohammedan  hospitality.  Since  that  day  Kavalla  has  passed 
through  the  vicissitudes  of  war.  The  Turks  had  to  yield  the 
city  to  the  Greeks,  and  the  Greeks,  under  the  pusillanimous 
rule  of  Constantine,  practically  made  a  present  of  it,  with 
its  forts  and  its  garrison,  to  the  Bulgarians,  who  captured  it 
without  a  struggle.  Now,  in  the  strange  shuffle  of  the  nations 
made  at  Versailles,  it  has  become  again  a  part  of  the  kingdom 
of  Greece. 

Bright  and  early  the  next  morning  we  left  Kavalla  for 
Philippi.  Rattling  by  the  homes  of  the  tobacco-trust  million- 
aires, up  a  steep  hill  and  down  its  long  slope,  we  came  at 
length  to  the  historic  plain  where  the  great  battle  between  the 
Republicans  and  Monarchists  of  Rome  was  fought.  Here 
Cassius  and  Brutus  led  their  troops,  brought  over  the  hills 
from  their  camp  in  Sardis,  against  the  Imperialists,  led  by 
Octavius  and  Mark  Antony.  The  monarchists  won  the  day, 
and  the  doom  of  republican  Rome  was  sealed. 

Hither  came,  with  his  three  companions,  the  unknown  Jew 
who  had  just  set  foot  for  the  first  time  in  Europe,  perhaps 
the  very  day  before,  for  we  do  not  know  that  St.  Paul  made 
any  stop  in  Neapolis.  But  in  Philippi  he  found  some  congenial 
spirits  holding  a.  prayer  service  by  the  water-side.  Among 
them  was  Lydia  of  Thyatira.  Here  he  founded  a  church,  and 
here  persecution  followed  him  as  in  every  other  city.  He  was 
thrown  into  prison,  and  was  marvellously  released  by  an  earth- 
quake, according  to  the  Scripture  narrative.  To  this  city,  as 
,we  all  know,  he  afterwards  wrote  a  letter  which  the  world  will 
not  willingly  let  die. 


43^  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

There  is  little  indeed  left  in  Philippi  for  the  modern 
traveller  to  see.  The  ancient  marble-paved  Roman  road  which 
connected  the  city  with  Kavalla,  and  which  was  part  of  the 
famous  Ignatian  Way,  is  still  to  be  seen  in  some  short  sections, 
and  we  made  a  point  of  leaving  our  carriage  literally  to  walk  in 
the  footsteps  of  St.  Paul,  for  this  is  the  highway  he  must  have 
trodden  in  this  first  journey  on  European  soil,  a  journey  des- 
tined to  be  so  momentous  in  the  history  of  the  Christian  church. 

Nothing  at  all  of  ancient  Philippi  is  left  above  ground, 
save  a  few  ruins,  of  which  the  only  conspicuous  one  is  thought 
by  some  to  be  the  palace  of  the  Governor  of  Philippi.  It 
at  least  was  once  a  building  of  considerable  importance,  for 
some  of  the  stones  that  I  measured  were  twelve  feet  in  length 
and  four  feet  thick.  Here  also  are  several  great  springing 
arches,  with  fine  ornamentation  visible  in  many  places. 

Behind  these  ruins  rises  the  Acropolis  of  Philippi,  crowned 
with  a  rude  and  useless  Turkish  fort.  We  speak  of  the 
Acropolis  as  though  there  were  but  one  and  that  at  Athens, 
whereas,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  every  important  Greek  and 
Roman  city  of  ancient  times  had  its  acropolis  or  mountain  of 
defense. 

Up  this  acropolis  in  ancient  times,  especially  after  Octavius 
had  made  Philippi  a  Roman  colony,  streets  and  houses  of  the 
city  crowded,  from  the  plain  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  which  was 
crowned  by  a  huge,  dark  castle,  while  stone  walls  of  great 
thickness  were  built  all  around  to  protect  the  city  from  attack. 
Curious  knobs  of  dark  rock  here  and  there  were  cut  into  the 
shape  of  Greek  idols,  and  the  seats  of  the  open-air  theatre 
(for  every  Greek  city  has  its  theatre)  and  the  remains  of  the 
temple  of  Silvanus  can  still  be  traced  on  the  hillside. 

As  we  stood  among  the  ruins  with  our  backs  to  the  Acropolis, 
in  front  stretched  the  great  plain  where  the  Battle  of  Philippi 
to  which  I  have  alluded  was  fought.  There,  on  that  field, 
according  to  the  Bard  of  Stratford,  Brutus  soliloquized: 


IN    THE    FOOTSTEPS    OF    ST.     PAUL  437 

"  Oh,  that  a  man  might  know 
The  end  of  this  day's  business  ere  it  come! 
But  it  sufficcth  that  the  day  will  end, 
And  then  the  end  is  known.     Come,  ho!  away! 

There,  on  that  field,  Casslus  ran  upon  his  own  sword,  which 
was  held  by  his  slave  Pindarus,  while  he  exclaimed: 

"  Caesar,  thou  art  revenged 
Even    with    the    sword    that    killed   thee." 

In  order  that  the  army  might  not  be  overwhelmed  by  the 
news  of  the  death  of  their  great  leader,  his  body  was  secretly 
sent  off  to  the  island  of  Thasos  in  the  bay  of  Kavalla,  while 
the  battle  was  still  raging.  On  that  same  field  of  Philippi 
Brutus  killed  himself  by  running  upon  his  sword. 

"  Brutus,  the  noblest  Roman  of  them  all! 

When  the  news  of  the  disastrous  battle  of  Philippi  reached 
Portia,  the  wife  of  Brutus,  in  her  island  home  at  Nisida,  near 
Naples,  where  afterwards  Paul  landed  on  his  way  to  Rome,  she 
is  said  to  have  killed  herself  by  the  most  horrible  of  all  suicidal 
methods,  swallowing  live  coals  of  fire.  Such  were  some  of  the 
tragedies  connected  with  the  bloody  field  of  Philippi. 

More  than  any  other  of  the  St.  Paul  cities  that  we  visited 
Philippi  seemed  the  city  of  the  dead.  Distressingly  dilapidated 
Turkish  cemeteries  abound  in  all  directions,  four  or  five  lying 
close  to  the  site  of  the  ancient  city.  Nothing  more  forlorn 
can  be  conceived  than  a  Turkish  graveyard  with  its  decaying 
and  broken  stones  leaning  to  every  point  of  the  compass.  The 
graveyards  in  the  neighborhood  of  Philippi  have  not  even  the 
natural  ornament  of  a  cypress  grove,  which  redeem  many 
Turkish  burying  places  from  utter  desolation.  Still  the  Plain 
of  Philippi  was  green  and  beautiful  in  the  spring-time,  and  the 
little  river  beside  which  Paul  found  the  praying  women,  flows 
between  low  banks  bright  with  flowers.     Here  we  saw  two 


438  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN    MANY    LANDS 

women  upon  their  knees,  but  alas,  unlike  their  sisters  of  ancient 
times,  they  were  not  praying,  but  washing  their  soiled  linen, 
an  equally  praiseworthy  operation,  perhaps,  if  only  the 
prayers  were  not  omitted  in  their  proper  season. 

Returning  to  the  railway  at  Drama,  we  boarded  the  train 
for  Constantinople,  and,  after  a  very  short  stay,  again  took 
the  train  on  the  famous  Bagdad  Railway  (which  has  figured 
so  largely  as  among  the  provocations  of  the  Great  War)  for 
Konieh,  the  ancient  Iconium  of  St.  Paul's  day. 


The  Riverside 
Where  prayer  was  wont  to  be  made. 

This  journey  then  subjected  the  traveller  to  no  hardships, 
for  the  railway  is  well  built,  and  the  first  and  second-class 
cars  were  very  comfortable..  At  Eski  Shehir,  where  we  took 
the  train  on  our  wagon  journey  across  Turkey,  going  in  the 
opposite  direction  nearly  a  score  of  years  before,  we  spent 
the  night,  as  the  trains  ran  only  by  daylight.  We  did  not  find 
that  hotel  accommodations  had  improved  much  in  the  last 
twenty  years,  but  did  find  a  greatly  increased  trade  in  Meer- 
schaum clay,  for  which  the  place  is  famous,  since  it  contains  the 
best  deposits  in  the  world.  Dealers  in  pipes  and  cigarette- 
holders,  and  strings  of  beads  and  curious  ornaments  of  various 


IN    THE    FOOTSTEPS    OF    ST.    PAUL  439 

kinds,  besought  our  patronage.  The  beads  are  peculiarly  in 
favor  among  the  Turks,  for  every  man  in  Asia  Minor,  be  he 
Moslem  or  Christian  seems  to  carry  a  string  of  beads  of  some 
kind  in  his  pocket,  which  he  fingers,  not  as  an  act  of  religious 
devotion,  but  apparently  simply  to  keep  his  hands  busy,  while 
he  talks  with  his  neighbors,  or  plays  one  of  his  interminable 
games  of  dominoes. 

We  had  hoped  to  be  able  to  visit  Antioch  in  Pisidia,  where 
the  Apostle  preached  his  first  recorded  sermon,  and  which  is 
son"ie  miles  from  the  station  of  Ak  Shehr,  but  found  that  the 
roads  were  still  impassable  on  account  of  the  winter  snows  and 
washouts,  and  that  no  one  would  think  of  the  possibility  of 
making  the  journey  until  settled  weather  came  again.  So  we 
pushed  on  to  Konieh,  where  we  arrived  on  the  evening  of  the 
second  day  from  Constantinople,  and  found  our  good  friends 
of  former  days.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Dodd,  whom  we  had  known 
in  Cesarea,  ready  to  receive  us  with  open  hospitality. 


Chapter    XXXIX 
.    Year   1912 

IN  THE  FOOTSTEPS  OF  ST.  PAUL 


PART    II 

ICONIUM  THE    OLDEST    CITY    IN    THE    WORLD SELJUKIAN 

TURKS    AND     THEIR    WONDERFUL     MOSQUES WHY    THE 

DERVISHES    WHIRL FINDING     THE     SITE    OF     LYSTRA 

FROM    STONES 
TO   MELONS A   NOBLE   MISSIONARY  DOCTOR. 


HOW   "  CHRISTIAN    DOGS  "    FOUND    FAVOR 


ONIEH   (old  Iconium)  has  the  charm  of  an 


interesting  modern  city,  with  the  added 
charm  of  a  remarkable  story  that  stretches 
back  far  beyond  the  ages  of  recorded 
history.  Sir  William  Ramsay  calls  it  the 
oldest  city  in  the  world,  though  he  admits 
that  Damascus  may  dispute  its  supremacy.  Like  Damascus,  a 
city  here  was  made  inevitable  by  the  springs  and  rivulets 
which  flow  down  from  the  Lystrian  hills  and  make  it  a 
perpetual  oasis  in  the  great  Anatolian  plain,  so  much  of  which 
is  uninhabited  and  uninhabitable  for  lack  of  water. 

Like  our  own  Colorado  and  Montana  uplands,  and  like 
the  veldt  of  South  Africa,  the  Anatolian  plains  are  thousands 
of  feet  above  the  sea,  and  though  naturally  fertile,  need  the 
vivifying  influence  of  the  rare  springs  and  water-courses  to 
make  them  productive.  These  Konieh  has  in  abundance,  and  in 
consequence,  the  city  is  surrounded  by  a  fringe  of  gardens  and 
orchards  several  miles  wide,  which  always  have  made,  and 
doubtless  always  will  make  it  a  place  of  importance. 

440 


IN    THE    FOOTSTEPS    OF    ST.    PAUL  441 

I  know  of  no  city  in  all  Asia  Minor  which  has  left  a  more 
abiding  impression  on  my  mind  than  Konieh.  Many  of  the 
objects  that  greeted  St.  Paul's  eyes  are  seen  by  travellers 
to-day.  Then,  as  now,  the  twin  peaks  of  St.  Philip  and  St. 
Thekla,  which  rise  straight  out  of  the  plain,  kept  guard  over 
the  city  to  the  westward.  Then,  as  now,  the  soft-footed 
camels  plodded  their  way  slowly  and  majestically  through 
the  narrow  streets,  and  knelt  in  the  wood-market  to  have  their 
heavy  burdens  of  logs  and  fagots  from  the  mountains  un- 
loaded. Then,  as  now,  the  traders  in  the  little  booths  under 
the  brown  awnings  in  the  bazaar  sat  cross-legged  before  their 
small  stock  of  wares,  inviting  passers-by  to  stop  and  purchase. 
Few  of  the  notable  features  of  street  life  have  much  changed, 
for  in  the  slow-moving  East  customs  and  costumes  and  manners 
remain  the  same  from  generation  to  generation. 

The  golden  age  of  Iconium,  however,  was  not  in  St.  Paul's 
day,  but  in  the  years  from  the  twelfth  to  the  fifteenth  century, 
when  the  Seljukian  Turks,  the  best  of  their  race,  made  Konieh 
the  capital  of  the  splendid  Empire  of  Roum.  "  The  city  was 
then  so  magnificent,"  it  has  been  said,  "  with  beautiful  build- 
ings, palaces,  mosques,  and  mausolea,  that  the  proverb  arose, 
^  See  all  the  w^orld,  see  Konieh.'  " 

Many  a  traveller  to  Constantinople  or  Smyrna  looks  on 
with  supercilious  curiosity  at  the  whirling  dervishes  in  their 
daily  devotions,  but  if  he  would  view  them  with  an  eye  to  their 
ancient  history  he  would  remember  that  to  them  it  is  a  reli- 
gious service  as  solemn  as  a  prayer  meeting.  The  founder  of 
the  sect,  who  lived  in  Konieh,  read  the  story  of  David  "  danc- 
ing before  the  Lord  "  and  concluded  that  there  was  a  spiritual 
significance  and  virtue  in  the  act.  Thus  the  whirling  to  solemn 
and  sacred  music  became  one  of  the  characteristics  of  their 
worship,  which  has  been  carried  to  such  an  extreme  in  some 
places  that  the  dervishes  lose  themselves  in  dizzy  ecstasy, 
and  even  gash  themselves  with  knives  as  a  part  of  the  cere- 
mony. 


442 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 


For  the  most  part,  however,  the  whirling  is  done  with 
solemn  propriety,  each  dervish  dodging  his  whirling  neighbor 
with  great  expertness,  and  then  retiring  to  the  back  of  the  room, 
and  standing  upright  to  recover  an  equilibrium  which  one 
would  think  would  be  greatly  upset. 

The  chief  mosque  of  this  sect  in  Konieh  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  in  the  world.  The  tiles  with  which  it  is  plentifully 
decorated  are  of  Christian  blue  rather  than  Mohammedan 
green,  and  it  is  thought  by  many  who  have  investigated  the 


The  Whirling  Dervishes  of  Iconium 

subject  that  the  Mevlevi  dervishes  have  more  in  common  with 
Christians  than  any  other  sect  of  the  Moslems, 

There  are  many  ruins  of  extreme  beauty  in  Konieh,  and  the 
carving  around  the  doorway  of  an  old  Seljukian  college  is 
equal  to  the  finest  stone  tracery  of  the  Indian  mosques  and 
palaces  in  Delhi  and  Agra. 

Especially  in  the  "  Great  Mosque  "  is  the  mosaic  work  of 
marvellous  intricacy  and  beauty.  It  is  hung  with  magnificent 
rugs,  and  scores  of  beautiful  lamps  in  silver  and  brass,  while 
the  tomb  of  Hazret  Mevalana,  the  founder  of  the  order,  is 
especially  dazzling  in  its  magnificence.  It  is  covered  with 
shining  cloth  which  looks  like  a  pall  of  solid  gold,  and  as 


IN    THE    FOOTSTEPS    OF    ST.    PAUL  443 

Hazret  is  buried  standing  up,  it  is  of  peculiar  shape  for  a 
sarcophagus. 

But  one  is  tempted  to  linger  too  long  in  Konieh.  Scarcely 
less  interesting  was  our  excursion  in  search  of  the  ruins  of 
Lystra.  It  was  a  cold  February  day  when  with  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Dodd  we  started  in  two  large  Turkish  arabasy  our  horses 
decorated  with  thousands  of  blue  "  evil-eye  beads  "  braided 
into  their  manes  and  tails  and  various  parts  of  the  harness. 
If  any  caravan  could  thus  be  guarded  from  evil,  ours  was 


Courtyard  of  the  Mosque  of  the  Whirling  Dervishes  in  Iconium 

surely  safe  from  harm.  One  of  our  Araba-jls,  or  drivers,  was 
a  Greek  with  a  long  brown  scarf  wound  around  his  head;  the 
other  was  a  Turk,  dressed  like  a  kavass,  with  much  gay 
embroidery  about  his  person,  and  some  murderous-looking 
but  harmless  pistols  tucked  into  his  girdle. 

Soon  after  we  started  the  snow  began  to  whirl  around  our 
wagons,  and  a  blizzard  such  as  is  not  uncommon  on  the  wind- 
swept Anatolian  plain  threatened  our  further  progress.  But 
we  pressed  on  through  mud  and  snow  and  slush  for  some 
eight  hours,  until  we  came  to  a  small  river  crossed  by  a  fine 
Roman  bridge  sadly  out  of  repair,  so  that  we  had  to  cross  the 
stream  by  a  ford  and  drive  our  horses  through  the  belly-deep 


444 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 


water.  Just  beyond  lay  the  wretched  little  Turkish  village 
of  Khatun  Serai,  the  modern  Lystra.  The  ruins  of  the 
famous  city  of  old  lie  less  than  a  mile  away. 

Lystra  in  Paul's  time  was  largely  inhabited  by  a  rude  and 
barbarous  people,  and  its  inhabitants  are  no  different  in  char- 
acter to-day,  though  of  a  different  race.  Indeed  we  found 
the  inhabitants  even  less  hospitable  than  they  were  in  Paul's 
time.     Prying  faces  were  thrust  behind  the  curtains  of  our 


The  Guest  House  of  Lystra 
From  photograph  by  Mrs.  Clark. 

araba  to  look  at  the  strange  women  of  America  with  their 
unveiled  faces. 

The  AludJr,  or  headman  of  the  village  was  among  the  first 
arrivals  in  the  motley  throng  that  surrounded  the  wagons. 
In  reply  to  a  polite  request  that  we  might  visit  the  ruins  of 
the  ancient  city  he  gave  a  prompt  and  surly  refusal. 

The  boys  and  young  men,  taking  their  cue  from  the  head- 
man, began  to  revile  us  as  "  Giaours  "  Christian  dogs,  and, 
when  we  started  out  to  try  to  find  the  ruins  without  assistance, 
the  boys  pelted  us  with  snowballs  and  stones,  and  then  gathered 
on  a  neighboring  hilltop  to  hoot  and  yell  at  the  hated  Chris- 


IN    THE    FOOTSTEPS    OF    ST.     PAUL  445 

tians.  A  kodak  pointed  at  them  by  one  of  our  party  soon 
dispersed  them,  and  they  scuttled  down  the  hillside  in  great 
haste,  lest  the  evil  eye  of  the  camera  should  blight  their  lives. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  it  would  be  an  easy  thing  to  find 
the  ruins  of  a  once  important,  populous  city  of  Roman  times, 
when  we  knew  that  we  were  within  a  mile  of  them,  but  such 
was  not  the  case,  for  scarcely  a  relic  of  ancient  Lystra  appears 
above  ground,  and  in  every  direction  are  found  more  or  less 
of  the  remains  of  ancient  dwellings,  half  buried  in  the  ground. 

Indeed  the  site  of  Lystra  was  long  and  vainly  sought  by 
archaeologists.  Sir  William  Ramsay  passed  within  a  few 
yards  of  the  site  of  the  city  for  which  he  was  searching  with- 
out finding  it,  and  it  was  only  the  discovery  of  a  Lystrian  coin 
and  a  single  monumental  inscription  by  Professor  Sterrett  of 
Cornell  University  that  settled  forever  the  site  of  the  ancient 
city. 

Fortunately  we  had  with  us  Sir  William's  latest  book  with 
invaluable  descriptions  and  pictures  of  the  site  of  Lystra. 
From  this  we  were  enabled  to  determine  the  particular  hill- 
side and  plain  on  ,which  the  ancient  city  was  situated.  It  was 
too  late  however  to  inspect  it  closely  that  evening,  and  slowly 
and  toilsomely  we  made  our  way  through  the  mud  and  snow 
back  to  the  little  village.  ^ 

In  the  meantime  a  wonderful  change  had  come  over  the 
hearts  of  the  modern  Lystrians,  for  they  had  learned  that  one 
of  our  company  was  a  missionary  doctor,  whose  fame  had 
penetrated  to  their  remote  village.  Now  it  seemed  they  could 
not  do  enough  for  us.  They  turned  out  of  the  only  guest- 
room in  the  village  two  Turkish  loafers,  and  gave  it  to  us  for 
the  night,  selling  us  eggs  and  other  provisions,  and  presenting 
to  us  some  delicious  winter  melons,  which  keep  in  good  con- 
dition until  spring.  Some  seeds  from  these  melons  I  after- 
wards planted  and  found  that  they  yielded  as  good  fruit  from 
the  soil  of  Cape  Cod  as  from  that  of  the  uplands  of  Asia 
Minor. 


44^  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

A  constant  procession  of  lame,  halt,  and  half-blind  invaded 
our  hut  which  was  shared  by  our  four  horses  and  our  two 
araba-jis.  All  were  helped  and  comforted  by  our  good  mis- 
sionary doctor,  some  receiving  medicine  and  slight  treatments 
then  and  there,  and  others  were  invited  to  visit  the  hospital 
in  Konieh,  where  they  could  be  cared  for. 

In  St.  Paul's  time  the  Lystrians  were  noted  for  their  fickle- 
ness of  disposition.  First  they  treated  him  and  his  companion 
as  gods  J  then  they  stoned  Paul  and  left  him  for  dead.  The 
humble  modern  travellers  who  followed  in  St.  Paul's  foot- 
steps were  treated  in  a  reverse  fashion  by  the  modern  Lys- 
trians j  first  they  stoned  and  reviled  us,  and  then,  in  hope  of 
favors  to  come  from  the  missionary  doctor,  they  treated  us  as 
their  most  honored  guests. 

The  next  morning,  without  any  opposition  from  the  NLudw^ 
we  inspected  more  narrowly  the  site  of  Lystra,  but  found  little 
of  interest  except  some  broken  pieces  of  marble  and  other 
building  stones,  some  on  the  plain  and  some  on  the  slopes  and 
crest  of  a  hill  about  three  hundred  feet  above  the  plain,  which 
was  once  the  citadel  or  acropolis  of  Lystra. 

It  required  something  of  a  scramble  to  reach  the  top  of  the 
steep  hill,  but  the  glorious  view  well  repaid  us  for  the  exer- 
tion. Lystra's  citadel  was  situated  in  the  centre  of  a  valley 
with  a  wide  stretch  of  fertile,  well-watered  country  stretching 
out  beyond,  for  the  two  streams  which  flow  near  the  town 
bring  life  and  beauty  to  this  favored  spot  in  the  Lycaonian 
upland.  No  wonder  that  some  magnificient  Sultana  from 
Konieh  in  the  time  of  the  Seljukian  Turks  made  the  village 
her  country  residence  as  the  name  of  Khatun  Serai,  or  the 
"  Lady's  Mansion,"  indicates. 

Lystra  like  most  of  the  ancient  cities  of  Asia  Minor  has 
served  as  a  quarry  for  the  neighboring  villages,  and  for  nearly 
two  thousand  years  past,  when  any  of  the  inhabitants  wished 
to  build  a  house  or  a  mosque,  a  retaining  wall  or  a  sheep-pen, 
they  have  hastened  to  the  almost  inexhaustible  treasures  which 


IN    THE    FOOTSTEPS    OF    ST.     PAUL 


447 


were  built  up  with  so  much  pains  and  expense  into  the  beautiful 
cities  of  old.  Magnificent  marble  columns,  ornate  capitals, 
memorial  stones  covered  with  inscriptions,  and  even  the  tombs 
of  the  dead  have  served  the  vandals  of  later  generations,  and 
provided  them  with  abundance  of  material. 

The  most  interesting  site  in  all  Lystra  is  that  of  the  temple 
where  Paul  and  Barnabas  w^ere  hailed  as  gods.  Just  before 
the  land  begins  to  rise  to  the  hill  on  which  the  chief  buildings 
were  situated  on  the  south-east  side  of  the  citadel,  stands  a 


A  Very  Old  Fountain  in  Lystra 

Famous  in  ancient  times.  Where  Paul  doubtless  drank.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Dodd, 
missionaries  in  Iconium  (modern  Konieh),  and  their  son  and  Dr.  Clark.  From 
photograph  by  Mrs.  Clark. 

pedestal  on  which  is  an  inscription  showing  that  it  was  dedi- 
cated to  Augustus  whose  worship  was  connected  with  the  chief 
temple.  Here  undoubtedly  was  the  temple  of  Jupiter  "  be- 
fore-the-city,"  where  the  people  brought  oxen  and  garlands 
to  do  honor  to  the  Christians  who  so  peremptorily  refused 
their  worship. 

After  spending  a  few  hours  among  the  ruins  we  bade  adieu 
to   the   birthplace   of   Timothy,   the   residence   of   the   godly 


448  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN     MANY    LANDS 

Eunice  and  the  pious  Lois,  and  the  city  to  which  Paul  alluded 
in  the  pathetic  story  of  his  adventures  and  his  persecutions 
which  he  endured  for  his  Master's  sake.  "  Once  ,was  I 
stoned,"  and  that  once  was  on  the  plain  just  outside  of  the 
walls  of  Lystra. 

Returning  to  Konieh,  we  spent  another  day  or  two  with 
our  missionary  friends  whose  pioneer  work  in  this  intensely 
Mohammedan  city  we  greatly  admired.     We  were  interested 
in  the  way  in  which  the  good  missionary  physicians  had  started 
their   evangelistic   work.      Though    there   had   long   been   in 
Konieh  and  is  now  an  excellent  school  of  high  grade  for  boys, 
called  the  "  Apostolic  Institute,"  presided  over  by  an  Armenian 
graduate  of  Yale,  there  had  been  little  distinctively  evangelistic 
work  carried  on  there  until  the  arrival  of  Dr.  Dodd  and  Dr. 
Post  a  few  years  before  to  establish  there  a  Christian  hospital. 
The   Turks   were   practically   inaccessible,   but   there  are   a 
multitude  of  Greeks  in  Iconium,  whom  our  friends  wished 
to  reach.     So  at  family  prayers  in  a  room  opening  upon  the 
main  street  they  sang  various  Christian  melodies  which  at  first 
attracted  a  few  Greek  young  men  who  wished  to  come  in  and 
enjoy  the  singing.     They  would  not  have  responded  to  any 
invitation  to  a  Bible  reading  or  preaching  service,  but  gospel 
music  hath  charms  not  only  to  soothe  the  savage  breast  but 
to  attract  the  young  Greek  rough-necks  from  the  street,  for 
such  many  of  them  proved  to  be. 

When  we  were  there  quite  a  large  congregation  had  been 
gathered  each  day  and  while  some  evidently  came  to  scoff, 
others  remained  to  pray,  or  at  least  to  listen  reverently  to  a 
prayer.  Being  asked  to  address  them  I  tried  to  pave  the  way 
for  my  remarks  by  telling  them  that  I  had  come  from  Boston 
to  speak  to  them,  and  asked  them  how  many  had  heard  of 
Boston.  What  was  my  chagrin  as  a  loyal  Bostonian,  proud  of 
the  Athens  of  America,  to  find  that  these  young  fellows  had 
never  heard  of  the  city  by  the  Charles.  Going  further  in  my 
search  for  geographical  knowledge,  I  found  that  very  few  had 


IN    THE    FOOTSTEPS    OF    ST.     PAUL  449 

heard  of  New  York,  but  when  I  asked  how  many  had  heard  of 
Chicago  almost  all  the  hands  went  up.  My  humiliation  was 
then  complete,  and  there  was  nothing  for  me  to  do  except  to 
go  on  with  my  address  as  best  I  could.  During  the  World 
War  which  so  soon  followed  this  visit  of  ours,  the  heroic  mis- 
sionary doctors  with  their  families  and  their  associate,  Miss 
Cushman,  stuck  to  their  posts,  relieving  thousands  of  the  sick 
and  wounded,  caring  for  the  dying,  and  bringing  physical  and 
spiritual  comfort  to  multitudes  in  those  distressing  and  dread- 
ful years. 

We  soon  left  Konieh,  going  ]:)y  rail  across  the  Anatolian 
plain,  and  decided  that,  as  we  would  be  in  the  vicinity  of 
several  of  the  Seven  Churches  of  Revelation,  we  would  try 
to  visit  them  all,  a  journey  which  added  a  fitting  climax  to 
one  of  the  most  interesting  years  of  travel  which  we  had  ever 
spent. 


Chapter   XL 
Year  191 2 

THE    SEVEN    CITIES    OF    REVELATION 


AN    INTERESTING    JOURNEY    TO    OLD    PHILADELPHIA SARDIS 

THYATIRA  PERGAMUM  SMYRNA  EPHESUS  

LAODICEA A      PERSIAN      TOMB      AT      SARDIS IMMENSE 

RUINS  OF  PERGAMUM  DESOLATE  RUINS  OF  LAODICEA 

SCRIPTURE    ILLUSTRATED, 

ROM  my  boyhood  the  messages  from  the 
Spirit  through  St.  John  as  recorded  in  the 
Book  of  Revelation  have  had  an  unusu'al 
fascination  for  me.  They  are  so  striking  in 
their  figurative  language,  and  yet,  when 
studied  carefully,  have  such  significance  for 
modern  church  life.  On  this  account  I  was  especially  attracted 
by  the  possibility  of  making  a  visit  to  each  of  these  cities  on 
this  journey.  St.  Paul  had  lured  us  to  the  vicinity  of  several 
of  them  and  we  resolved  if  possible  to  see  them  all. 

Iconium  is  situated  on  the  high  Anatolian  plain,  and  a  day's 
journey  brought  us  to  Ushak  on  the  edge  of  the  great  table- 
land. The  next  day  we  descended  to  the  plains  below.  At 
the  foot  of  the  hills  lies  Philadelphia,  the  ancient  city  which 
commemorates  the  brotherly  love  of  Attalus,  Philadelphus, 
and  Eumenes.  This  is  the  only  one  of  the  seven  cities,  with 
the  exception  of  Smyrna,  that  received  unqualified  praise  from 
the  "  Spirit  "  who  sent  the  messages  through  the  Apostle  John 
to  the  churches. 

Here  we  met  by  appointment  our  friends  Dr.  and  Mrs. 

450 


THE    SEVEN    CITIES    OF    REVELATION  45 1 

Edward  Riggs,  long-time  missionaries  in  Turkey,  whom  we 
had  invited  to  go  with  us  as  our  guests  and  also  as  our  guides 
and  interpreters.  Their  companionship  and  knowledge  of 
the  language  and  customs  of  the  people  made  the  journey  far 
more  interesting  and  profitable  than  it  could  otherwise  have 
been. 

Philadelphia,  now  called  Alasheir,  or  the  "  Spotted  City  " 
(why  spotted  we  never  learned),  is  one  of  the  least  interesting 
of  the  seven  because  almost  no  excavation  work  has  yet  been 
undertaken  there.  However,  in  a  Greek  school  of  some  pre- 
tensions are  displayed  a  few  beautiful  tablets  and  statues  and 
fragments  of  inscriptions  which  were  discovered  in  digging  the 
foundation  of  the  school  building.  Doubtless  many  rich  finds 
await  the  archaeologist  who  may  have  time  and  money  to  spend 
in  unburying  the  hidden  treasures  of  ancient  Philadelphia. 

Going  out  into  a  vineyard  in  the  outskirts  of  the  city,  we 
saw  a  hole  in  the  ground  which  had  accidently  caved  in  while 
the  vine  dressers  were  at  work,  and  there,  but  a  few  feet  below 
the  surface,  was  an  ancient  wall  covered  with  beautiful  frescoes, 
whose  colors  were  still  fresh  after  their  entombment  of  a 
millennium  and  a  half. 

Another  reason  why  more  interesting  discoveries  have  not 
yet  been  made  here,  is  that  there  has  always  been  a  considerable 
city  on  the  site  of  Philadelphia,  and  many  streets  of  houses 
would  have  to  be  demolished  to  make  a  complete  investigation 
of  the  ruins  beneath  the  surface. 

Yet  Philadelphia  has  interests  of  its  own,  and  is  still  a  place 
of  considerable  importance.  Lying  as  it  does  almost  on  the 
foothills  that  lead  to  the  vast  plains  beyond,  it  is  now,  as  it 
was  in  the  days  of  the  Seer  of  Patmos,  the  Open  Gateway  to 
Anatolia,  and  the  commendatory  message  to  the  church,  "  Be- 
hold I  have  set  before  thee  an  open  door  which  no  man  can 
shut,"' gains  new  emphasis  as  we  remember  how  the  great 
Roman  highway  to  Anatolia  passed  through  this  city,  and  that 
the  modern  railway  which  connects  the  plains  of  Smyrna  with 


452  MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

the  "  regions  beyond,"  still  makes  it  "  an  open  door  "  of  dis- 
tinction and  importance. 

Here  we  spent  the  night  in  the  home  of  a  friendly  Greek 
who,  for  a  very  considerable  consideration,  was  willing  to  take 
us  in,  since,  strange  to  say,  there  is  no  hotel  in  the  city.  We 
were  much  interested  in  the  streams  of  water  that  flow  through 
many  of  the  principal  streets,  often  making  a  temporary  foot- 
bridge necessary  in  order  to  cross  from  one  side  to  the  other. 
It  was  the  time  of  the  irrigation  of  the  vineyards,  and  water 
is  turned  on  periodically  from  the  reservoirs  in  the  hills,  and 
in  order  to  reach  the  vineyards  it  must  flow  through  several 
of  the  city  streets. 

Great  water  buffaloes  frequently  blocked  our  path,  and  we 
apparently  had  to  choose  between  wet  feet  in  the  irrigated 
streets  and  being  impaled  on  their  formidable  horns.  How- 
ever they  are  harmless  as  well  as  stupid  beasts,  and  it  was  not 
difficult  to  avoid  them. 

The  Greek  church  of  chief  interest  in  Philadelphia  contains 
a  curious  old  painting  representing  a  litteral  interpretation  of 
Rev.  I:  11-18.  The  Apostle  John  is  "  lying  as  if  dead"  at 
the  feet  of  the  figure  of  Christ  who  holds  in  His  right  hand 
"  seven  stars,"  and  "  out  of  whose  mouth  proceeds  a  sharp 
two-edged  sword,"  while  his  countenance  is  "  as  the  sun  shin- 
ing in  his  strength."  He  stands  in  the  midst  of  the  "  seven 
golden  candlesticks,"  his  "  head  and  hair  as  white  as  wool," 
his  eyes  are  as  "  a  flame  of  fire,"  and  he  is  "  girt  about  at  the 
breasts  with  a  golden  girdle." 

This  crude  and  realistic  picture  was  a  fitting  prelude  to  a 
journey  among  the  cities  which  the  Revelator  has  made  su- 
premely interesting  to  the  Christian  student. 

About  three  hours'  ride  by  rail  from  Alasheir,  the  ancient 
Philadelphia,  lies  Sardis,  "  Sart  "  in  the  Turkish  tongue,  and 
this  proved  to  be  in  many  respects  the  most  interesting -of  the 
seven  cities. 

After  a  walk  of  a  mile  or  more  from  the  station,  over  a 


THE    SEVEN    CITIES    OF    REVELATION  453 

broken  country,  we  saw  looming  on  the  horizon  two  huge, 
fluted  pillars  of  granite,  standing  some  thirty  feet  above  the 
soil,  wonderful  monuments  of  an  ancient  civilization  in  this 
now  desert  country.  For  centuries  these  mighty  columns  alone 
marked  the  site  of  old  Sardis.  For  a  time  after  we  came  in 
view  of  these  pillars  they  were  the  only  striking  objects  within 
our  range,  but  as  we  drew  nearer,  we  saw  that  there  were  a 
hundred  men  or  more  delving  in  the  ground  at  their  base, 
that  a  little  gravity  tramway  was  carrying  away  the  dirt  and 
stones  j  and,  peering  over  the  edge  of  the  excavations,  we  saw 
the  remains  of  two  remote  civilizations,  which  the  Princeton 
Expedition  of  American  Archaeologists  was  unearthing. 

No  richer  finds  have,  been  discovered  anywhere,  for  here 
the  remains  of  the  ancient  Lydians  have  been  unearthed,  and 
the  only  marbles  ever  discovered  that  are  inscribed  in  the 
Lydian  tongue.  Though  the  letters  are  as  sharp  and  clear-cut 
as  if  engraved  yesterday,  they  had  not  then  been  translated, 
as  the  value  of  some  of  the  Lydian  letters  had  not  been  dis- 
covered. We  found,  too,  that  the  apparent  height  of  the  two 
great  pillars,  six  feet  in  diameter,  which  seemed  to  sprout 
above  the  soil,  was  but  half  of  their  real  height,  and  that 
thirty  feet  more  of  their  height  had  been  buried  by  the  fall 
of  the  Acropolis  of  Sardis  in  the  terrible  earthquake  of  the 
year  17  of  the  Christian  era. 

These  pillars  and  scores  of  their  companions,  equally  huge, 
which  lay  prostrate  and  had  been  buried  for  nearly  twenty 
centuries,  belonged  to  the  Temple  of  Artemis  (Diana),  which 
was  built  or  perhaps  rebuilt  in  the  time  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  and  which  seems  never  to  have  been  completely  finished. 

But  more  wonderful  than  the  remains  of  this  mighty  struc- 
ture were  the  remains  of  a  still  older  sanctuary,  part  of  which 
lay  beneath  the  ruins  of  the  great  Greek  temple.  This  temple 
was  built  by  Croesus,  the  Lydian  king,  who  was  afterwards 
conquered  by  Cyrus  the  Great  and  dragged  at  the  victor's 
chariot-wheels. 


454  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Nowhere  in  the  world  do  we  find  more  concentrated  history 
than  in  Sardis.  Croesus,  whose  name  has  become  a  synonym 
for  wealth,  reigned  here.  Here  Solon,  the  wisest  man  of  old, 
whose  name  in  all  languages  stands  for  erudition  as  the  name 
of  Croesus  stands  for  wealth,  came  to  visit  the  king.  Across 
these  plains  swept  the  victorious  hosts  of  Cyrus  the  Persian, 
and  Darius  the  Mede.  From  the  plains  of  Sardis  started  the 
Republican  army  under  Brutus  and  Cassius,  on  their  ill-starred 
journey  across  the  mountains  to  the  plains  of  Philippi,  as  has 
already  been  recorded. 

When  we  arrived  at  Sardis  the  head  of  the  American  ex- 
pedition. Professor  Butler,  and  Mr.  La  Rose,  one  of  his 
assistants,  with  a  number  of  workmen  ,were  unearthing  a 
Persian  tomb  on  a  hill  a  half  mile  from  the  ruins,  a  hill 
tunneled  with  hundreds  of  graves,  since  for  centuries  it  had 
been  the  necropolis  of  Sardis.  Many  of  these  tombs  had  been 
opened,  and  the  one  discovered  on  the  day  that  we  were  there, 
a  beautiful  sarcophagus  of  Persian  terra  cotta,  when  opened, 
was  found  to  contain  the  remains  of  a  young  girl.  Her  bones 
and  her  luxurious  black  hair  were  all  that  remained  after  more 
than  two  millenniums  of  entombment,  though  some  trinkets 
and  tear  bottles  and  jewelry  proved  that  she  belonged  probably 
to  the  Persian  nobility. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  excavations  was  the  citadel  of 
Sardis,  a  small  mountain  which  had  been  half  levelled  in 
the  terrible  earthquake  of  which  I  have  spoken.  It  still  rises 
abruptly  to  a  sharp  peak  from  the  plain,  showing  an  almost 
perpendicular  wall  on  the  side  toward  Sardis,  and  was  sup- 
posed in  ancient  days  to  be  impregnable.  But  the  sense  of 
security  which  it  gave  to  the  ancient  Sardians  was  their  un- 
doing, for  during  the  centuries,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  the 
enemy  stealthily  stole  around  to  the  other  side  of  the  citadel 
which  was  less  steep,  surprised  the  garrison,  captured  the 
acropolis,  and  had  Sardis  at  their  mercy. 

Nestling  under  the  shadow  of  the  acropolis  was  the  tern- 


THE    SEVEN    CITIES    OF    REVELATION  455 

porary  home  of  the  archaeologists,  and  also  the  little  museum 
of  priceless  treasures  which  they  had  collected,  and  which 
must  later  be  turned  over  to  the  Turkish  government.  Our 
new-fo'und  friends  were  most  hospitable,  and  invited  us  to 
share  their  noonday  meal,  which  we  were  not  loath  to  do  after 
living  for  days  on  the  meager  fare  of  dirty  Turkish  or  Greek 
eating-houses.  The  only  people  in  the  neighborhood  besides 
the  American  archaeologists  and  their  little  army  of  workmen 
were  some  nomad  Turks  living  in  wretched  fashion  under 
squalid  camel-hair  tents,  or  under  a  thatch  of  straw. 

The  whole  region  swarms  with  historic  memories.  A  few 
miles  away,  but  in  plain  sight,  are  the  Ben  Tefe^  or  the 
"  Tombs  of  a  Thousand  Kings."  As  a  matter  of  fact  there 
are  only  about  six  hundred  of  these  tombs,  and  they  were  not 
all  occupied  by  kings  by  any  means.  Some  of  them  are 
doubtless  the  tombs  of  the  high  priests,  or  of  the  great  no- 
bility. They  are  all  great  round  mounds  of  earth,  some  rising 
quite  to  the  dignity  of  hills,  and  have  long  since  been  looted 
of  any  valuable  treasures  they  might  originally  have  con- 
tained. 

The  little  River  Pactolus  still  flows  through  the  plains,  close 
to  the  ruins  of  the  great  temples  of  Alexander  and  Croesus. 
We  crossed  it  by  a  little  footbridge  on  the  way  to  the  necrop- 
olis, and  recalled  how  Croesus  retrieved  its  golden  sands,  for 
its  wealth  was  not  altogether  mythological  by  any  means, 
coined  the  gold  into  tokens  of  wealth,  and  thus  became  the 
first  great  trader  between  the  East  and  the  West.  Some 
traces  of  gold  are  still  found  in  the  Pactolus,  though  its  largest 
wealth  was  exhausted  thousands  of  years  ago. 

Leaving  Sardis  on  the  same  afternoon  we  spent  the  night 
at  Manisa,  the  ancient  Magnesia,  which  has  given  us  one  or  two 
important  English  words,  magnetism  and  magnesium,  which 
was  here  first  discovered.  There  is  little  to  be  seen  in  Manisa, 
though  its  bazaar,  as  in  all  eastern  towns,  was  interesting,  and 
its  copper  bazaar  was  particularly  noisy  with  the  interminable 


456  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

tap,  tap,  tap,  of  a  hundred  coppersmiths,  who  laboriously 
pound  out  pans  and  pots  and  platters  from  the  yellow  metal. 
Late  on  the  afternoon  of  Washington's  birthday,  1912,  we 
reached  Thyatira,  now  called  Ak  Chehir,  which  also  lies  on 
a  branch  of  the  French  railway  on  which  we  had  been  travelling 
for  many  hours.  Thyatira,  like  Philadelphia,  is  one  of  the  less 
interesting  of  the  seven  cities,  and  for  the  same  reason,  because 
from  the  time  of  St.  John,  and  probably  for  centuries  before, 
a  city  has  existed  on  this  site,  and  there  is  little  possibility  at 
present  of  recovering  its  underground  treasures.  Neverthe- 
less Thyatira  has  an  interest  for  Biblical  scholars,  for  not  only 
was  one  of  the  messages  of  the  book  of  Revelation  sent  to 
the  Christian  church  here  established,  but  it  was  the  city  of 
^Lydia,  the  friend  and  hostess  of  St.  Paul  at  Philippi,  the 
wealthy  woman  who  was  "  a  seller  of  purple." 

We  bought  some  of  Lydia's  "  purple,"  the  madder  root, 
which  grows  wild  and  in  abundance  in  all  this  region.  It 
yields  a  dye  which,  however,  by  no  means  corresponds  to  our 
idea  of  purple,  and  it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  Lydia  could 
have  made  much  money  out  the  muddy  red  dye  stuff  which  the 
madder  root  we  bought  yielded. 

We  were  much  interested  in  a  call  on  the  Protestant  Greek 
pastor  of  Ak  Chehir.  He  lived  in  a  modest,  but  pleasant 
home,  and  we  were  proud  to  have  our  pictures  taken  with  his 
three  little  daughters,  charming  girls  who  rejoiced  in  the 
appropriate  names  of  Lydia,  Syntyche,  and  Chloe. 

He  went  with  us  to  visit  the  great  man  of  the  town,  the 
Turkish  Bey,  who  lived  in  a  fine  house  in  the  outskirts  of  the 
city,  which  overlooked  his  humbler  neighbors,  and  the  great 
fields  of  wheat  which  he  cultivated.  In  his  ample  grounds  we 
saw  a  beautiful  carved  sarcophagus,  now  used  as  a  fountain 
and  watering-trough,  as  are  many  other  sarcophagi  in  Asia 
Minor.  The  great  unknown,  who  once  occupied  this  tomb, 
and  whose  virtues  are  inscribed  in  elegant  Greek  upon  the  out- 
side, little  knew  to  what  purpose  his  grave  would  be  put. 


THE    SEVEN    CITIES    OF    REVELATION 


457 


Ak  Chchir  is  a  city  of  some  20,000  people,  and  the  hotel 
at  which  we  stopped  was  a  great  rambling  affair  with  an  im- 
mense courtyard  that  harbored  cows  and  buffaloes,  hens  and 
geese,  and  also  afforded  ample  accommodations  for  the  few 
guests  which  the  railway  brings  to  Thyatira. 

The  next  day  we  reached  Soma,  on  the  way  to  Pergamum, 
and  a  lady's  Line-a-Day  Book,  to  which  I  have  access,  abounds 
in  the  adjective  "  horrid  "  for  that  day.  "  It  was  a  horrid  road 
to  a  horrid  hotel  where  we  spent  a  horrid  night,"  while  the 


Pergamum,  One  of  the  Seven  Cities  of  Revelation 

The  ancient  city,  famous  as  the  most  magnificent  city  of  its  day,  was  built 

on  the  hill  to  the  left.     Photographed  by  Mrs.  Clark. 

eating-house  where  we  tried  to  stay  the  pangs  of  hunger  was 
more  "  horrid  "  still,  but  when  necessity  drives,  needs  must. 

There  was  fortunately  nothing  of  interest  to  detain  us  in 
Soma,  and,  as  the  branch  railway  makes  this  its  terminus,  early 
the  next  morning  we  set  off  for  Pergamum,  the  only  one  of 
the  seven  cities  which  lies  far  from  a  railway.  We  packed 
ourselves  into  an  araba,  and  rode  forty-two  kilometers  over  a 
rough  road,  with  much  "  jouncing  and  bouncing,"  according 
to  the  aforesaid  Line-a-Day  Book.  Commendable  efforts  had 
been  made  to  mend  the  road,  or  at  least  good  intentions  were 
shown,  for  piles  of  broken  stone  lined  the  roadside,  and  here 


45^  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

and  there  for  a  mile  or  two  at  a  stretch  the  stones  had  been 
pitched  into  the  middle  of  the  highway,  and  had  been  left 
there  for  the  few  passing  arabas  or  foot  passengers  to  tread 
down  into  a  decent  thoroughfare,  —  a  quite  impossible  task. 

The  beautiful  scenery,  however,  ,well  repaid  us  for  the  dis- 
comforts of  the  journey.  We  seemed  to  be  travelling  on  the 
rim  of  a  great  bowl  which  dipped  below  us,  while  the  hills  on 
the  farther  horizon  constituted  the  outer  rim  of  the  bowl. 

The  soil  in  this  region  is  fertile,  and  the  vegetation  lux- 
urious. Many  little  streams,  crossed  by  rude  bridges,  bring 
life-giving  water  to  the  thirsty  earth. 

After  about  six  hours  of  bouncing  and  jouncing,  the  noble 
citadel  of  Pergamum  came  in  view,  the  one  imposing  land- 
mark in  all  this  region.  At  the  base  lies  the  modern  city  of 
Bergama,  reminiscent,  even  in  its  spelling,  of  the  magnificent 
ancient  capital,  which  at  one  period  of  the  history  of  Asia 
Minor,  was  almost,  if  not  quite,  the  greatest  city  in  the  world. 

It  was  the  glorious  capital  of  the  Province  of  Asia,  to  which 
flowed  the  wealth  not  only  of  that  great  province,  but  of  the 
regions  far  away.  The  modern  town  is  confined  within 
narrow  limits  at  the  base  of  the  old  citadel,  but  the  ancient 
city  climbed  clear  to  its  top,  and  planted  its  splendid  temples 
and  baths,  gymnasia,  libraries,  and  private  palaces  on  all  sides 
of  the  great  hill,  which  was  at  once  the  fortress  and  the 
fashionable  quarter  of  Pergamum. 

Never  have  I  been  so  impressed  with  the  extent  and  the 
magnificence  of  ancient  ruins.  One  can  walk  for  hours  and 
hours  between  broken  marble  columns,  over  tesselated  pave- 
ments, climbing  quarries  of  cut  stone,  finding  everywhere  in- 
scriptions clear  cut  and  indelible  which  tell  of  the  mighty  past. 
And  yet  these  are  only  remnants,  for  the  most  beautiful  of 
these  marbles  were  long  ago  carried  off  to  Berlin,  and  are  now 
stored  in  the  extensive  Pergamenian  Museum,  where  I  after- 
wards saw  them. 

The  ruins  are  now  absolutely  deserted  of  human  kind,  and 


THE    SEVEN    CITIES    OF    REVELATION  459 

one  can  walk  In  solitude  through  the  empty  streets,  and  climb 
over  the  remains  of  a  former  glorious  civilization  with  no  one 
to  molest  or  make  one  afraid.  The  modern  Pergamenians, 
it  is  true,  on  a  holiday,  make  the  ruins  a  picnic  resort,  and  it 
interested  us  to  see  a  company  of  maidens  among  the  ancient 
piles  playing  "  Drop  the  handkerchief,"  "  Ring-around-Rosy," 
and  other  games  which  seem  as  indigenous  to  Asia  Minor  as 
to  America.  Who  knows  that  such  games  have  not  been 
played  in  the  streets  of  Pergamum,  before  as  well  as  since  the 
days  of  its  destruction,  for  the  last  two  thousand  years. 

The  weather  was  perfect,  and  we  greatly  enjoyed  our  two 
days  amid  the  splendid  relics  of  the  past.  On  Sunday  we 
made  our  way  to  the  ruins  of  the  "  Temple  of  Rome  and 
Augustus,"  and  as  we  sat  upon  the  doorstep,  looking  off  upon 
the  .wide  and  peaceful  prospect,  we  read  the  familiar  passage 
in  Revelation  which  must  have  been  so  comforting  to  the 
struggling  and  persecuted  church  in  Pergamum: 

"  I  know  where  thou  dwellest,  even  where  Satan's  throne  is." 

We  were  actually  seated  on  the  base  of  Satan's  throne,  for 
the  Temple  of  Rome  and  Augustus  was  "  the  throne  "  or 
"  seat  "  to  which  St.  John  alluded.  Here  were  brought  Chris- 
tians for  trial,  and  here  they  were  condemned  either  to  abjure 
their  faith  in  Christ  or  to  suffer  a  horrible  martyrdom.  Many 
sculptured  blocks  of  marble  still  remain  in  this  ancient  temple, 
though  of  course  its  best  remains  have  been  sent  to  Berlin. 

There  are  few  more  beautiful  views  in  the  w^orld  than  that 
from  the  Temple  of  Rome  and  Augustus.  Green  fields  stretch 
out  in  every  direction.  The  two  chief  rivers  of  the  region,  the 
ancient  Selinus,  and  the  Cetius,  make  the  meadows  green. 
Immediately  in  front  are  the  three  artificial  hills  which 
Pausanius  nearly  two  thousand  years  ago  told  us  were  the 
tombs  of  Auge,  the  mother  of  Telephus,  of  Andromache  and 
of  Pergamus,  while  far  off  in  the  distance  one  can  see  on  a 
clear  day  the  shining  water  of  the  Aegean  Sea. 


460  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN     MANY    LANDS 

In  the  modern  town  of  Bergama  are  fifteen  mosques,  sev- 
eral khans,  a  respectable  hotel  called  "  The  Alhambra,"  whose 
portly  Greek  proprietor  was  proud  to  be  immortalized  by  our 
camera,  and  several  interesting  bazaars.  Processions  of 
ragged  camels  constantly  edge  their  way  through  the  narrow 
streets,  their  paniers  bulging  with  cotton,  wool,  and  leather, 
Bergama  leather  having  a  great  reputation  in  these  days. 

In  ancient  times  Pergamum  was  noted  for  its  ointments, 
its  pottery,  and  its  parchment,  the  latter  article,  so  vital  to 
the  records  of  civilization,  receiving  its  name  from  this,  the 
chief  city  of  its  manufacture.  In  the  olden  times,  too,  Per- 
gamum was  a  notable  seat  of  learning  as  well  as  of  wealth 
and  of  marvellous  architecture.  Here  was  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  libraries  of  the  world,  containing  200,000  volumes, 
which  were  given  by  the  prodigal  and  piratical  Antony  to  his 
mistress  Cleopatra,  for  which  she  probably  cared  little  except 
as  a  sign  of  her  conquest  of  the  world-conqueror. 

In  one  of  the  bazaars  of  Pergamum,  which  is  also  cele- 
brated for  its  cutlery,  we  bought  a  two-edged  carving  knife, 
a  reminder  of  the  Revelator's  message  to  the  ancient  church, 
"  These  things  saith  He  that  hath  the  sharp  two-edged 
sword."  It  has  proved  to  be  en  excellent  knife,  and  the  date 
inscribed  on  it,  "  191 2,"  frequently  recalls  to  us  our  visit 
to  the  once  mighty  metropolis  of  Asia. 

In  these  Bible  lands  one  is  constantly  reminded  of  Biblical 
expressions.  In  the  uncleanly  Greek  eating-house  in  Ber- 
gama where  we  obtained  our  meals,  four  polite  Greeks  kindly 
vacated  the  table  at  which  they  were  seated,  in  order  to  give 
our  party  a  chance  to  sit  together.  We  found  that  our  pred- 
ecessors had  thrown  the  bones  from  their  mutton  chops  under 
the  table  and  a  couple  of  dogs  were  fighting  at  our  feet 
through  all  the  meal  for  these  delicatessen.  Now,  as  in  the 
olden  time,  "  even  the  dogs  may  eat  of  the  crumbs  which  fall 
from  their  master's  table." 

After  two  delightful  days  in  Pergamum  our  araba-ji  drove 


A   STREET  IN   SMYRNA 
Probablj^  destroyed  in  late  massacre. 


THE    SEVEN    CITIES    OF    REVELATION  463 

US  back  to  Soma,  where  we  were  obliged  to  spend  another 
night  in  its  filthy  hotel,  and  thence  we  went  on  by  rail  to 
Smyrna,  the  second  most  important  seaport  in  the  then 
Turkish  Empire.  This  too,  as  we  know,  was  one  of  the  Seven 
Cities,  and  one  of  the  two  that  received  unstinted  commenda- 
tion from  the  Master.  Here  also  we  were  reminded  of  the 
way  in  which  the  Revelator  fitted  his  message  to  the  church 
to  which  he  wrote.  "  Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will 
give  thee  the  crown  of  life,"  he  said  to  the  faithful  Christians 
of  Smyrna.  Alas!  poor  Smyrna!  How  much  Smyrniot  Chris- 
tians of  1922  need  the  comfort  of  this  passage. 

This  capital  was  called  "  the  City  of  the  Beautiful  Crown," 
and  as  one  looks  up  to  the  mighty  acropolis  which  towers  over 
the  modern  citv  one  sees  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  crown  of 
palaces  and  fortresses  which  seemed  to  encircle  and  diadem 
the  hill.  So  familiar  was  this  appellation  that  one  of  the 
greatest  poets  of  Smyrna  in  noble  verse  had  long  ago  told  the 
people  that  "  the  true  crown  of  the  city  was  not  a  crown  of 
noble  buildings  but  of  just  and  righteous  citizens,  who  alone 
constituted  the  city's  glory  and  treasure." 

In  going  to  Ephesus  over  the  well-appointed  English 
railway  we  passed  through  "  Paradise,"  which,  as  compared 
with  most  Turkish  railway  towns,  is  a  Paradise  indeed,  since 
there  is  established  a  splendid  American  "  International 
Institute  "  to  which  I  have  before  alluded,  and  which,  since 
my  last  visit  to  Smyrna,  had  been  moved  to  the  suburb  of 
Paradise. 

After  two  and  a  half  hours,  some  forty-eight  miles  from 
Smyrna,  "  Ayasolouk  "  is  called  by  the  guard  with  stentorian 
lungs,  and  we  find  that  we  have  come  to  the  railway  station 
of  the  ruins  of  Ephesus  where  was  the  church  that  "  lost  its 
first  love."  Ayasolouk,  which  means  Holy  Theologian,  re- 
ferring to  St.  John,  is  the  termination  of  the  journey  of  many 
tourists  who  think  they  have  been  to  Ephesus.  Here,  it  is 
true,  are  the  remains  of  the  great  temple  of  Diana,  commonly 


464  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

associated  with  Ephesus,  and  the  ruins  of  the  Church  of  St. 
John  of  the  Middle  Ages.  But  the  really  important  ruins 
of  Ephesus  are  three  miles  away,  anci  can  be  reached  only  on 
foot  or  on  donkey  back. 

As  the  railway  time-table  allows  a  stop  of  only  about  two 
hours,  a  time  insufficient  to  visit  the  real  Ephesus,  many  trav- 
ellers see  the  exceedingly  scanty  relics  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Ayasolouk,  get  a  good  dinner  at  the  excellent  tourist  hotel, 


Among  the  Ruins  of  Ephesus 
From  photograph  by  Mrs.  Clark. 

and  hurry  back  to  Smyrna  with  the  impression  that  they  have 
"  done  Ephesus." 

There  has,  indeed,  been  more  than  one  Ephesus,  or  at 
least,  according  to  the  prophecy  of  St.  John,  "  its  candlestick 
has  been  removed  "  more  than  once  "  out  of  its  place."  The 
most  ancient  city  was  established  near  Ayasolouk.  The  Ephe- 
sus of  St.  John  and  St.  Paul  was  three  miles  away,  where  the 
chief  ruins  are  to-day.  The  city  was  then  on  the  seashore 
with  a  splendid  port,  but  the  little  river  which  brought  down 
mud  and  silt  from  the  mountains,  after  some  centuries  made 
the    port    impossible,    and    the   candlestick    of    Ephesus    was 


THE    SEVEN    CITIES    OF    REVELATION  465 

moved  back  near  the  original  site,  where  in  the  Middle  Ages 
it  was  an  important  city  ecclesiastically  and  politically.  At  this 
time  the  Church  of  St.  John  was  almost  as  famous  as  the 
temple  of  Diana  had  ever  been,  its  annual  revenues  amounting 
to  $100,000  a  year. 

Then  came  the  unspeakable  Turks,  who  wherever  they  go 
destroy  every  vestige  of  ancient  civilizations,  and  since  then 
Ephesus  has  been  little  more  than  a  dwelling-place  for  owls 
and  bats  and  jackals.  Still  the  glorious  ruins  remain.  Though 
the  excavations  are  not  yet  complete,  the  old  city  has  been 
more  thoroughly  unearthed  than  any  other  of  the  Seven  Cities, 
unless  it  be  Pergamum.  Here  are  long  streets  paved  with 
marble,  with  the  remains  of  marble  colonnades  on  each  side. 
Here  are  the  ruins  of  great  temples,  a  splendid  library,  a  beau- 
tiful market  place,  a  great  gymnasium,  and  a  stadium  where 
the  Grecian  youths  exercised  themselves. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  ruin  is  that  of  the  enormous 
theatre,  capable  of  seating  24,500  people.  Though  the  marble 
slabs  have  been  removed  on  which  the  people  of  Ephesus  sat 
as  they  witnessed  the  games,  it  is  not  difficult  to  follow  the  out- 
line of  the  seats,  for  as  in  all  these  old  theatres  (and  every 
ancient  city  had  one  or  more)  the  seats  followed  a  semi- 
circular excavation  in  the  hillside,  and  rose  one  above  the 
other. 

In  the  proscenium  are  heaped  together  in  endless  confusion, 
capitals  and  friezes,  and  drums  of  columns  and  architraves. 

Though  the  temple  of  Diana  was  three  miles  away,  it  was  in 
this  theatre  that  the  mob  shouted  the  praises  of  Diana  for  two 
long  hours.  Here  the  common  sense  of  the  town  clerk  of 
Ephesus  at  last  prevailed  and  quieted  the  people  by  telling 
them  that  every  one  knew  that  Ephesus  was  the  temple-keeper 
of  the  great  goddess  Diana,  and  that  Paul  and  his  companions 
were  neither  robbers  of  temples  nor  blasphemers  of  the  god- 
dess. If  my  readers  will  again  study  the  nineteenth  chapter  of 
Acts,  they  will  refresh  their  minds  on  these  stirring  events  in 


466  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

the  life  of  the  apostle.  As  we  stood  in  the  theatre  we  could 
hear  in  imagination  the  hoarse  shouts  of  the  angry  mob,  as  they 
monotonously  invoked  the  goddess  j  also  the  politic  words  of 
the  town  clerk,  and  could  see  Alexander,  the  Jew,  vainly  trying 
to  gain  a  hearing  from  the  people  who  would  not  listen  to 
a  despised  Israelite. 

So  far  had  the  bigotry  and  veneration  for  the  poor  little 
wooden  goddess  in  her  great  temple  gone,  that  the  Ephesians 
of  Paul's  time  were  proud  of  having  their  city  called  Neocoros 
or  "  Temple  Sweeper  "  of  the  goddess.  This  name  was  origi- 
nally given  to  the  lowest  class  of  slaves  who  kept  the  temple 
clean,  but  the  Ephesians  put  the  name  Neocoros  upon  their 
coins  to  show  that  the  city  desired  no  greater  honor  than  to  be 
known  as  the  temple-sweeper  of  the  goddess  Diana. 

The  last  of  the  Seven  Cities  whose  message  is  recorded  in 
Revelation  is  Laodicea,  and  it  was  the  last  city  that  we  visited 
on  this  journey.  It  lies  upon  the  same  line  of  railway  as 
Ephesus,  some  eighty  miles  beyond  that  city,  on  the  well- 
managed  English  line  that  runs  southeast  from  Smyrna. 
Throughout  the  whole  distance  from  Ephesus  to  Laodicea 
the  road  follows  the  valley  of  the  Meander,  or  its  scarcely 
less  celebrated  tributary,  the  Lycus,  which  joins  the  Meander 
shortly  before  it  gets  to  Laodicea. 

Great  orchards  of  fig  trees  fill  the  valley  of  the  Meander, 
the  most  celebrated  region  in  the  world  for  the  unequalled 
Smyrna  figs,  and  throughout  almost  its  whole  length  we 
saw  the  shapely  trees  with  their  smooth  white  bark,  which  have 
contributed  so  much  to  the  wealth  of  the  province.  Visions  of 
college  classics  and  of  the  mythical  stories  of  childhood  were 
brought  to  our  minds  by  every  turn  of  the  meandering 
Meander,  and  its  banks  on  that  spring  day,  bright  ,with  mil- 
lions of  gorgeous  anemones,  made  it  seem  the  fit  abiding- 
place  for  the  spirits  with  which  mythology  peopled  its  banks. 

The  modern  Turkish  names  of  many  of  the  stations  on  the 


THE    SEVEN    CITIES    OF    REVELATION  467 

way  to  Laodicea  are  most  interesting.  For  instance  Balachik 
means  "  Little  Place  Up  Above,"  Deirmanjak  means  "  Dear- 
Little-Mill  "j  while  a  station  still  further  south  called 
Kuyukak  means  "  Dear-Little-Well."  These  affectionate 
diminutives  show  how  dear  even  to  the  Turk  are  the  "  scenes 
of  his  childhood." 

At  length  after  nearly  a  whole  day's  journey,  a  journey  long 
in  time  but  short  in  distance,  we  reached  Gonjeli,  at  the  foot 
of  the  great  hill  which  is  covered  with  the  ruins  of  Laodicea. 
Here  once  was  a  proud,  rich  city,  and  here  was  the  church 
which  received  the  most  scathing  rebuke  spoken  by  the  Spirit 
to  any  one  of  the  seven  churches  of  Asia.  Laodicea  was 
famous  for  its  banking  houses,  its  millionaires,  its  doctors,  its 
eye-salve,  and  its  wool,  which  was  long  and  soft,  glossy  and 
black.  The  secret  of  raising  the  breed  of  sheep  that  produced 
this  wool  has  now  been  lost,  but  in  St.  John's  day  this  glossy, 
black  wool  which  came  from  Laodicea  and  was  then  woven 
into  beautiful  and  costly  garments  was  famous  throughout  the 
world. 

Remembering  these  sources  of  wealth,  the  banking  houses, 
the  eye-salve,  and  the  black  wool,  we  better  understand  the 
special  point  of  the  Spirit's  exhortation:  "  I  counsel  thee  to  buy 
of  me  gold  tried  in  the  fire,"  and  "  white  garments  that  thou 
mayest  be  clothed,"  and  "  eye-salve  to  anoint  thine  eyes  that 
thou  mayest  see."  The  true  gold  of  spiritual  riches,  the  white 
garments  of  righteousness,  and  the  medicine  for  spiritual  blind- 
ness, were  the  things  that  this  lukewarm  church  needed. 
Laodicea  is  the  most  desolate  and  God-forsaken  of  all  the 
Seven  Cities.  Even  Sardis,  though  quite  as  dead,  is  far  more 
interesting  to  the  traveller.  The  barren,  utterly  deserted  hill 
on  which  Laodicea  stood  rises  above  the  mean  little  Turkish 
village  of  Eski  Hissar  and  contains  not  a  single  inhabitant.  No 
wandering  shepherd  even  pastures  his  flocks  among  the  ruins. 
Wolves  and  foxes  may,  perhaps,  occupy  the  artificial  caves  at 
night,  but  no  living  creature  picks  a  scanty  subsistence  from  be- 


468  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

tween  the  rocks  which  strew  the  ground  so  thickly  that  scarcely 
a  blade  of  grass  can  grow.  The  ruins  cover  hundreds  of  acres, 
and  though  they  have  been  quarried  for  a  thousand  years  by 
all  the  villages  round  about,  yet  there  is  enough  good  build- 
ing material  left  to  erect  another  city  on  the  site  of  the  ancient 
metropolis. 

Some  of  the  great  stones  of  an  ancient  temple  I  measured 
and  found  them  to  be  four  feet  long  and  three  feet  thick.  A 
splendid  aqueduct  brought  water  from  the  hills  miles  away. 
But  the  most  impressive  ruins  are  those  of  two  great  theatres 
and  a  vast  stadium.  Each  theatre  is  built  into  a  natural  hollow 
in  the  hillside,  and  I  estimated  that  the  theatres  together 
would  seat  from  fifty  to  seventy  thousand  people,  and  the 
stadium,  nearly  twice  the  size  of  that  at  Athens,  would  accom- 
modate not  less  than  90,000.  Evidently  the  Laodiceans  were 
a  pleasure-loving  people. 

If  the  ruins  of  Laodicea  are  depressing,  the  mighty  moun- 
tains of  God  which  surround  it  are  inspiring.  Snow-clad  hills 
8,000  and  10,000  feet  high  keep  guard  over  the  city  to  the 
south.  Under  the  shadow  of  one  of  these  hills  lie  the  ruins 
of  Colossae,  while  in  the  opposite  direction  lies'  Hierapolis,  to 
which  we  journeyed  on  horseback  on  the  day  after  our  arrival 
at  Laodicea. 

The  ruins  of  this  city  are  far  more  interesting  than  those  of 
Laodicea,  for  some  of  the  buildings  are  still  in  a  tolerable  state 
of  preservation.  But  most  interesting  are  the  enormous  ter- 
races of  calcareous  deposit  which  comes  from  the  hot  springs 
that  rise  in  a  deep  pool  beyond  the  ruins  of  the  gymnasium. 
The  deposits  are  of  snowy  whiteness,  and  from  a  little  distance 
one  thinks  that  he  must  climb  an  ice  mountain  to  reach  the  site 
of  the  "  holy  city."  A  more  accurate  figure  would  be  a  frozen 
Niagara.  The  hot  day  on  which  we  climbed  it,  however,  had 
no  suggestion  of  ice.  A  footpath  enables  one  to  make  his 
way  over  these  remarkable  terraces  and  stalactite  formations  to 
the  ruins  of  old  Hierapolis. 


THE    SEVEN    CITIES    OF    REVELATION  469 

All  about  were  numberless  little  basins,  the  water  of  a  lovely 
bluish  tint,  and  quite  warm  to  the  touch.  In  one  great  hot 
pool  I  took  a  delicious  bath  in  company  with  several  brawny 
Turks,  and  afterwards  our  little  party  ate  our  lunch  in  the 
shadow  of  a  triumphal  arch.  Altogether  our  visit  to  Hierapolis 
was  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  all  these  months  of  travel. 

The  next  day  we  returned  to  Smyrna  and  soon  after  took 
passage  for  Naples  on  the  ill-fated  "Senegal,"  afterwards 
torpedoed,  like  several  other  ships  on  which  I  have  sailed. 
From  Naples  the  good  ship  "  Cedric  "  took  us  to  New  York, 
and  this  long  and  varied  journey  was  over. 


Chapter  XLI 
Year  19 12 

IN  THE  HOLY  LAND  ONCE  MORE 


A  SIXTIETH   BIRTHDAY PALESTINE  JUST  BEFORE  THE  GREAT 

WAR JERUSALEM  NAZARETH  DAMASCUS  BAAL- 

BEC BEIRUT TYRE SIDON  CAIRO  ASSIOUT 

ALEXANDRIA  SYRACUSE  EARTHQUAKE-RUINED   MES- 
SINA  POZZUOLI  ROME. 

(T  MAY  seem  somewhat  strange  that  while  I 
was  Still  holding  the  office  of  president 
of  the  United  Society,  and  of  the 
World's  Christian  Endeavor  Union,  I 
could  give  so  much  time  to  foreign 
travel  that  was  not  altogether  connected 
with  Christian  Endeavor  meetings. 

The  truth  is  that  at  the  convention  of  191 1,  when  I  had 
almost  concluded  my  sixtieth  year,  I  had  urgently  striven  to 
be  released  from  my  presidential  duties,  feeling  that  some 
younger  man  could  carry  the  burden  more  easily  and  success- 
fully. But  my  resolution  was  received  with  a  storm  of  protest 
from  my  colleagues  and  from  the  trustees  who  yearly  elected 
me,  and  it  seemed  useless  to  press  the  matter.  However,  I 
made  it  plain  that,  as  I  received  no  salary,  if  I  did  not  relinquish 
the  office  entirely,  I  must  be  free  to  spend  my  time  where,  in 
my  own  opinion,  I  could  do  most  good,  and  that  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  promotion  of  the  worlc  in  America  must  rest 
largely  upon  my  colleagues.  This  responsibility  they  were  both 
willing  and  able  to  accept,  and  I  felt  fully  at  liberty  to  spend 

470 


IN    THE    HOLY    LAND    ONCE    MORE  47I 

as  much   or  as  little   time   in   my  Boston   office  as   I   deemed 
necessary. 

If  it  .would  not  seem  egotistical,  I  would  describe  at  some 
length,  more  than  one  very  kind  reception  and  dinner  given 
me  at  this  time  in  view  of  my  thirty  years  of  connection  with 
the  Endeavor  movement,  when  various  kind  things  were  said, 
many  of  which  I  felt  were  undeserved,  for  my  friends  and  the 
public  generally  have  always  given  me  much  more  credit  for 
the  initiation  and  success  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement 
than  I  should  have  received. 

One  present  received  on  my  sixtieth  birthday  I  particularly 
cherish  j  a  gold  watch-chain  from  the  young  people  of 
America.  Its  thirteen  four-sided  links  contain  on  each  side  the 
name  of  one  State  or  Province  of  North  America,  not  forget- 
ting either  Alaska  or  Hawaii.  The  idea  originated  with  Karl 
Lehmann,  then  Secretary  of  Christian  Endeavor  for  the  South- 
ern States.  The  money  was  collected,  1  understand,  in  very 
small  sums,  and  really  represented  in  a  unique  way  the  young 
people  of  North  America. 

Two  loving-cups,  one  from  the  trustees  of  the  United 
Society,  another  from  my  colleagues  in  the  office,  and  still 
another  received  later  from  the  people  of  Claremont,  my 
boyhood  home,  where  the  town  as  well  as  the  church  a  little 
later  gave  me  a  very  unusual  welcome,  are  also  among  my 
treasured  possessions.  One  cannot  have  too  many  cups  or  other 
such  tokens  if  they  tell  of  the  love  of  cherished  friends. 

It  must  be  remembered  also  that  all  my  journeys,  whether 
to  the  Seven  Cities  of  Asia,  to  the  Cities  of  St.  Paul,  or  else- 
where, were  really  only  incidents  in  Christian  Endeavor  tours. 

I  have  always  gone  abroad  in  response  to  invitations  from 
various  countries  and  have  taken  occasion  to  make  these  other 
journeys  as  tributary  to  them.  Moreover  the  articles  and  books 
which  these  unusual  journeys  have  made  it  possible  for  me  to 
write,  have  also  made  it  possible  to  undertake  other  Christian 


472  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Endeavor  journeys  in  many  lands  without  expense  either  to 
the  United  Society  at  home  for  salary  or  travelling  expenses, 
or  to  the  people  whose  conventions  I  attended. 

With  few  exceptions  I  have  spent  six  months  out  of  every 
twelve  in  America,  frequently  a  year  or  more  at  a  time,  and 
have  been  able  in  those  months  to  keep  in  touch  with  my 
work  at  home,  and  to  attend  many  conventions  and  union 
gatherings  in  the  United  States  and  Canada.  No  other  man 
of  the  ofHce  force  could  then  have  visited  the  societies  in  other 
lands,  because  the  treasury  of  the  United  Society  could  not' 
afford  it,  and  because  no  one  could  be  spared  from  the  special 
work  he  had  to  do.  For  this  reason  the  journeying  business 
naturally  and  almost  inevitably  fell  to  my  lot. 

During  the  summer  of  191 2,  after  our  return  home,  my 
dear  wife  came  near  making  a  longer  journey  than  any  we  had 
taken  together^  for  a  severe  attack  of  appendicitis,  and  a  serious 
operation  were  very  disquieting  events  of  that  summer.  How- 
ever, in  the  end,  she  successfully  joined  the  "  No  Appendix 
Club,"  to  which  many  of  her  friends  already  belonged,  and 
as  soon  as  she  was  well  enough  to  travel  several  circumstances 
induced  us  to  go  abroad  again.  Her  own  health  I  felt  would 
be  improved,  as  she  would  be  free  from  household  cares. 

We  had  visited  only  about  half  the  Cities  of  St.  Paul,  and 
were  anxious  to  complete  our  self-imposed  task.  Our  youngest 
son  had  just  graduated  from  Dartmouth  College,  and  had 
had  a  partial  promise  of  a  journey  to  the  Holy  Land  if  his 
college  course  should  be  creditable  to  himself  and  his  parents. 
Urgent  letters  had  come  from  the  Endeavor  unions  of  some 
sections  of  Great  Britain  and  Europe  5  and  especially  from 
Scandinavian  countries,  asking  that  I  visit  them  once  more. 
The  Christian  Herald  Publishing  Company  wished  me  to  write 
a  book  about  Palestine,  which  I  did  not  feel  competent  to 
undertake  until  I  should  visit  the  Holy  Land  again.  All 
these  considerations  together  induced  us  to  take  another  jour- 
ney to  the  Near  East. 


IN    THE    HOLY    LAND    ONCE    MORE  473 

On  the  third  of  October,  1912,  my  second  son,  Harold, 
celebrated  the  thirty-sixth  anniversary  of  the  wedding  day  of 
his  father  and  mother,  by  marrying  Harriet  Scoles  Adams,  the 
daughter  of  Rev.  Harry  Adams,  a  Congregational  minister 
then  settled  in  Cliftondale.  By  a  singular  coincidence  this  was 
also  the  wedding  anniversary  of  the  bride's  father  and  mother. 
It  proved  to  be  the  same  kind  of  a  lovely  third  of  October 
that  his  mother  and  I  remembered  in  1876,  and  which  has  been 
repeated  every  year  since,  almost  without  exception.  Mr. 
Adams  and-  I  performed  the  ceremony  and  the  young  couple 
started  on  their  brief  honeymoon.  This  beloved  pastor,  not 
many  years  later,  was  killed  in  a  sad  automobile  accident  in 
Florida. 

Two  days  later,  on  October  5,  we  sailed  on  the  "  Martha 
Washington  "  for  Trieste.  This  too,  was  one  of  the  steamers 
that  figured  in  the  early  days  of  the  Great  War,  being  interned 
in  New  York  harbor  when  the  war  broke  out.  The  second 
Balkan  war  was  just  at  its  height,  and  something  like  a  thou- 
sand patriotic  and  hilarious  Greeks  took  passage  in  the  steerage 
and  the  second  class,  determined  to  fight  for  their  native  land 
if  opportunity  should  offer. 

Nothing  of  moment  signalized  this  voyage,  though  it  gave 
us  an  opportunity  to  spend  a  few  hours  in  Algiers,  a  city  we 
had  never  before  visited.  The  botanical  garden,  the  Kasbah, 
the  great  mosque  and  palace  were  interesting,  but  our  steamer 
did  not  allow  very  careful  inspection. 

Landing  at  Patras  we  took  the  rail,  as  on  previous  journeys, 
to  Athens,  and  in  two  or  three  days  sailed  for  Alexandria  on 
the  "  Mount  Athos,"  a  small  and  dirty  Russian  steamer  which 
only  afforded  us  the  accommodation  of  a  small,  dark,  stuffy, 
inside  stateroom.  The  decks  were  so  piled  with  baskets  of 
fruit  that  there  was  scarcely  standing-room  upon  them,  and  we 
were  glad  enough  that  the  voyage  involved  only  two  days  of 
discomfort. 

Arriving  at  Alexandria  when  the  scare  of  some  infectious 


474  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

disease  was  prevalent,  we  all  had  to  put  out  our  tongues  as  we 
lined  up  in  a  row,  and  undergo  a  somewhat  thorough  and 
lengthly  medical  inspection.  No  occasion  makes  a  line  of 
people  look  more  self  conscious  and  foolish  than  such  an  exhibi- 
tion, and  none  can  seem  more  ridiculous  to  the  looker-on,  as  he 
sees  one  long  red  tongue  after  another  run  out  for  the  doctor's 
eye.  This  is  a  process  which  we  have  had  to  endure  in  other 
parts  of  the  world.  The  compensation  for  such  enforced  ridicu- 
lousness is  that  these  inspections  have  doubtless  prevented  the 
spread  of  many  plagues  which  in  former  days  carried  devasta- 
tion from  country  to  country  and  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

The  very  next  day  we  sailed  on  the  Khedivial  Line  for  Jaffa. 
I  have  rarely  taken  a  more  lovely  journey.  The  soft  air,  the 
beautiful  smooth  sea,  the  line  of  the  Egyptian  shore  sharply 
cut  against  the  moonlit  sky,  all  combined  to  make  that  even- 
ing sail  a  memorable  one.  We  expected  a  terrifically  hard 
landing  at  Jaffa,  for,  after  leaving  Port  Said,  a  portentous 
thunder  shower  seemed  to  be  following  our  ship  and  rapidly 
gaining  on  us.  The  landing  was  rough  enough,  as  it  usually 
is,  but  we  were  so  fortunate  as  to  get  ashore  before  the  storm 
actually  broke. 

For  nearly  a  week  the  ships  that  followed  were  unable  to 
make  a  landing,  and  some  travellers  whom  we  afterwards  met 
were  obliged  to  go  on  to  Khaif  a,  and  then,  because  of  the  heavi- 
ness of  the  road,  were  scarcely  able  to  make  their  way  to 
Jerusalem  in  order  to  get  even  a  glimpse  of  the  Holy  City, 
which  they  had  come  so  far  to  see! 

One  of  these  unfortunate  travellers,  whom  we  met  in  a 
hotel  in  Khaifa,  started  in  a  wagon  with  others  for  Jaffa  and 
Jerusalem,  but  the  roads  were  so  bad  that  they  only  journeyed 
for  a  few  miles  before  their  wagon  broke  down.  Some  of 
them  stopped  in  a  little  Turkish  village  for  the  night  hoping 
to  get  on  in  some  way  the  next  day,  but  the  woman  of  whom 
I  have  spoken  and  her  husband  appeared  at  the  hotel  again 
in  the  evening.     She  explained  her  return  by  saying  that  she 


IN    THE    HOLY    LAND    ONCE    MORE  475 

could  not  make  up  her  mind  to  stay  in  that  village.  "  Why!  " 
she  explained,  "  they  do  not  even  speak  your  own  language. 
The  idea  of  staying  or  travelling  with  people  who  do  not  speak 
your  own  language!  Why,  I  would  not  think  of  such  a 
thing!"  So  she  lost  her  visit  to  Jerusalem,  though  some  of 
the  others  succeeded  in  making  the  journey  safely  in  spite  of 
the  language. 

This  visit  to  Palestine  was  less  than  two  years  before  the 
beginning  of  the  Great  War,  and  consequently  one  of  the  last 
of  a  thousand  years  of  Turkish  misrule  over  the  Holy  Land. 
The  evidences  of  this  misrule  were  everywhere  seen  in  the 
Holy  Land  in  those  days.  The  difficult,  and  in  some  places 
almost  impassable  roads  throughout  Palestine,  which  in  Roman 
times  was  girdled  with  fine  highways,  was  another  indication 
of  the  lack  of  public  spirit  of  the  Turk.  The  denuded,  rain- 
washed  hillsides,  the  miserable  villages  with  houses  unfit  for 
a  dog's  kennel,  which,  with  their  rounded  mud  roofs  looked 
from  a  little  distance  like  rows  of  gigantic  beehives  j  all  these 
indications  of  poverty  and  shif  tlessness  show  what  the  Turkish 
rule  had  done  for  the  land  of  Jesus  and  His  apostles. 

Poor  Palestine,  once  so  rich  and  fertile,  "  the  joy  of  the 
whole  earth  "  as  the  Jews  esteemed  it,  had  indeed  fallen  upon 
lean  and  bitter  years.  Let  us  hope  that  her  sorrows  are  over, 
and  that  under  a  just  and  wise  government,  supported  by  the 
League  of  Nations,  it  may  again  blossom  as  the  rose.  This 
journey  may  be  considered  of  especial  interest  to  some,  as 
old  things  were  soon  to  pass  away.  Let  us  hope  that  all  things 
may  become  new.^ 

A  great  gap  had  been  made  in  the  wall  of  Jerusalem  near 
Jaffa  Gate,  to  provide  for  the  entrance  of  William  Hohen- 
zollern  and  his  suite.  On  this  famous  visit  to  Jerusalem  he 
tried  to  persuade  himself  and  the  people  that  he  was  their  chief 
protector  and  defender,  and  a  bosom  friend  of  the  Sultan.     I 

^  As  I  correct  the  proof  of  this  chapter  I  cannot  speak  so  hopefully  of  the  passing 
of  Turkish  misrule  as  I  could  when  the  chapter  was  written  a  few  weeks  earlier. 


476  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

do  not  believe  the  story  that  he  also  proclaimed  himself  a 
Moslem,  and  the  Defender  of  Mohammedanism j  it  seems 
hardly  likely,  since  I  noticed  that  he  wrote  in  the  royal  visitors' 
book  in  the  beautiful  German  Church  which  he  had  built  in 
Jerusalem,  his  favorite  Scripture  verse,  "  There  is  no  other 
name  under  heaven,  given  among  men,  whereby  we  must  be 
saved."  This  was  written  in  a  bold  and  supposedly  royal 
hand,  while  underneath  the  Empress  had  inscribed  her  motto 
of  similar  import,  "  Other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than 
that  is  laid,  even  Christ  Jesus." 

It  has  been  a  pleasure  to  remember,  since  the  wonderful 
campaign  of  General  Allenby  redeemed  Palestine  from  the 
rule  of  the  Turk,  that  the  city  is  being  beautified  and  in  part 
rebuilt,  a  symbol  at  least  of  the  rebuilding  of  the  spiritual 
Jerusalem. 

It  is  most  gratifying,  also,  to  remember  with  what  reverence 
the  British  army  entered  Jerusalem,  quietly  and  on  foot,  with- 
out the  blare  of  trumpets  or  the  boom  of  the  guns  of  victory. 

The  memory  of  our  whole  journey  throughout  Palestine, 
from  Gaza  to  Jaffa,  to  Jerusalem,  to  Samaria,  to  Jenin,  to 
Damascus,  to  Beirut,  has  had  an  added  interest  since  the  his- 
toric and  triumphant  march  of  the  British  troops  throughout 
the  whole  length  of  this  land  of  sacred  memories. 

Unfortunately  our  journey  began  at  the  time  of  the 
"  former  rains  "  and  during  much  of  the  early  part  of  it  we 
were  drenched  by  Pluvius.  It  seemed  as  though  both  the 
"  former  and  the  latter  rains  "  were  pouring  down  upon  us  at 
the  same  time. 

Nablous,  the  ancient  Shechem,  was  our  first  resting  place 
after  leaving  Jerusalem,  and,  as  we  drove  up  to  the  door  of 
the  German  hotel,  the  windows  of  heaven  appeared  to  be 
opened,  and  all  the  watery  contents  of  the  firmament  were 
poured  upon  us. 

Every  Bible  student  knows  that  near  this  spot  was  Jacob's 
Well,  where  Jesus  talked  with  the  woman  of  Samaria.     The 


IN    THE     HOLY    LAND    ONCE    MORE  477 

hill  uii  whose  slopes  Nablous  is  situated  is  the  ancient  moun- 
tain where  for  more  than  two  thousand  years  the  Samaritans 
have  worshipped.  This  was  the  mountain  of  which  the  Samari- 
tan woman  said  in  her  conversation  with  the  Master:  "  Our 
fathers  worshipped  in  this  mountain  j  and  ye  say  that  in  Jeru- 
salem is  the  phice  where  men  ought  to  worship."  In  this 
same  mountain  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  Samaritan 
fathers  have  worshipped  ever  since.  The  sect  is  now  reduced 
to  about  seventy  souls,  but  they  still  have  their  high  priest, 
their  Samaritan  book  of  the  law,  and  their  occasional  service 
on  the  mountain  top. 

Here,  too,  opposite  Mt.  Gerizim,  is  Ebal,  "  the  Mountain 
of  Cursing,"  as  Gerizim  was  "  the  Mountain  of  Blessing." 
They  seem  too  far  apart  for  the  proclamations  of  blessing  and 
cursing  described  in  the  book  of  Deuteronomy,  yet  travellers 
who  have  studied  the  situation  have  declared  that,  owing  to 
their  peculiar  formation,  it  is  possible  to  talk  from  one  to  the 
other  without  a  modern  megaphone. 

Jenin  was  our  next  stopping  place,  a  wretched  Turkish  town 
with  one  or  two  tumble-down  mosques,  the  only  building 
of  any  pretension  and  size  being  the  Hamburg-American 
Hotel.  The  Germans  had  built  almost  the  only  decent  hotels 
in  all  Palestine.  In  Shechem  and  Jenin,  in  Nazareth  and 
Khaifa,  in  Tiberias  and  Damascus,  as  well  as  in  Jerusalem 
their  inns  alone  afforded  decent  food  and  clean  lodging  to  the 
wayfarer. 

We  were  so  fortunate  as  to  be  able  to  spend  a  Sunday  in 
Nazareth,  and,  instead  of  climbing  the  long  zigzags  which 
lead  from  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon  up  to  the  mountain  home 
of  Jesus'  boyhood,  in  the  x'\merican  wagon  which  was  our  means 
of  conveyance  on  this  journey,  we  chose  to  walk  by  the  short 
cuts,  that  we  might  in  imagination,  at  least,  plant  our  feet  in 
the  footprints  of  the  Master,  and  enjoy  the  splendid  scenery 
which  every  turn  in  the  mountain  road  revealed. 

Nazareth,  like  Jerusalem  and  other  holy  places  in  those 


478  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

days  was  a  place  of  disillusionment  to  the  traveller.  Though 
some  fine  churches,  hospitals,  and  schools  had  been  built  by 
foreign  Christians  in  memory  of  the  Master's  boyhood  and 
young  manhood,  yet  the  trail  of  the  Turk  was  over  it  all. 
The  rotten  carcass  of  a  dead  horse  befouled  the  air  as  we 
walked  from  our  hotel  to  the  "  Well  of  the  Virgin,"  and  the 
strains  of  rag-time  music  from  an  American  gramophone, 
grated  upon  our  ears  as  we  passed  a  Turkish  inn. 


The  Fountain  of  the  Virgin,  Nazareth 

Where  Jesus  and  Mary  undoubtedly  drew  water  and  carried  it  home  as 
here  represented.     The  only  fountain  in  Nazareth. 

The  "  Well  of  the  Virgin  "  itself  is  one  of  the  few  places 
in  Palestine  that  fulfills  one's  expectations  and  realizes  one's 
dreams.  Here  to-day  come  the  women  of  Nazareth,  many  of 
them  noted  for  their  beauty,  with  their  water  jars,  to  fill  them 
at  the  one  well  of  the  city.  Many  of  them  were  accompanied 
by  small  children,  and  it  took  little  imagination  to  see  the 
Virgin  and  the  boy  Christ  carrying  home  the  day's  water- 


IN    THE     HOLY    LAND    ONCE    MORE  479 

supply  from  this  ever-gushing  fountain.  Here  we  could  feel, 
as  scarcely  anywhere  else  in  Palestine,  that  Jesus  and  His 
mother  must  have  come  many  a  time,  for  wells  like  this  are 
among  the  few  unchangeable  features  of  an  eastern  landscape, 
and  the  customs  are  almost  equally  unchangeable. 

I  have  described  in  another  volume  the  sacred  sites  of  Naza- 
reth and  of  other  places  in  the  Holy  Land,  and  must  hurry  on 
lest  my  book,  like  too  many  other  autobiographies,  should 
become  inordinately  long. 

From  Nazareth  we  went  to  Khaifa  and  there  discharged 
our  grouchy  and  overreaching  Turkish  driver  whom  we  had 
engaged,  together  with  his  outfit  from  the  famous  "American 
Colony  "  in  Jerusalem.  I  may  pause  here  to  say  that  we  were 
much  impressed  with  the  kindness,  courtesy,  and  fair  dealing 
of  this  American  Colony,  about  whom  one  hears  so  many 
contradictory  reports.  Their  intercourse  among  themselves 
seemed  to  us  ideal  in  its  gentle  courtesy.  The  men  called 
each  other  Brother  Joseph,  Brother  David,  Brother  John,  etc.^ 
and  their  speech  and  action  showed  that  it  was  no  brotherliness 
of  the  lip  alone  but  of  every-day  life. 

One  day  of  our  stay  in  Khaifa  was  devoted  to  a  visit  to 
Acca,  or  Acre,  the  old  Ptolemais,  where  St.  Paul  landed,  for 
we  missed  no  opportunity  to  see  the  cities  that  St.  Paul  had 
seen,  however  brief  his  sojourn  in  them. 

Acca  is  well  worth  seeing  for  itself,  and  for  its  historic 
interest.  The  short  three-mile  journey  thither  from  Khaifa 
was  along  a  beautiful  crescent  beach  of  hard  sand,  much 
traversed  by  caravans  of  camels  on  their  way  to  the  seaport. 
Several  of  them  we  met,  and  could  easily  imagine  ourselves 
back  in  the  years  of  the  great  Apostle.  The  useless  walls  of 
Acca  have  been  bombarded  by  many  fleets.  In  more  recent 
times  Napoleon  tried  in  vain  to  take  the  city,  while  about  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  British  and  Austrians, 
then  allies,  captured  it,  and  the  crumbling  walls  still  show 
evidence  of  these  bombardments. 


480  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

From  the  eastern  wall  of  the  city  we  could  see  the  so-called 
prison  of  Abbas  Effendi,  the  Baha,  who  so  captured  the 
hearts  of  many  American  women  about  this  time.  From  the 
.walls  of  Acre  his  prison  looked  like  a  beautiful  villa  in  an  oasis 
of  its  own,  but  to  this  oasis  he  was  confined  for  more  than  thirty 
years,  by  Abdul  Hamid,  the  Great  Assassin.  It  so  happened 
that  the  Baha,  who  died  in  191 2,  was  on  the  steamer  which  we 
later  took  from  Liverpool,  homeward  bound.  He  was  then 
surrounded  by  a  coterie  of  worshipping  women,  and  one  or  two 
men.  Whenever  he  came  to  the  table  in  the  dining  saloon  they 
would  all  stand  in  reverent  silence  until  he  was  seated. 

One  day  he  invited  me  to  join  him  at  afternoon  tea  in  his 
stateroom,  and  he  talked  in  excellent  English  of  his  principles 
of  brotherhood  and  world  fellowship,  to  all  of  which  I  could 
heartily  agree.  I  imagine,  however,  that  if  he  had  told  me  of 
other  Zoroastrian  doctrines  which  he  held  I  should  have  found 
it  more  difficult  to  subscribe  to  them.  He  was  very  complimen- 
tary concerning  the  influence  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  move- 
ment in  promoting  good  fellowship  and  unity.  When  I  told 
him  that  I  had  recently  seen  the  prison  of  his  old  enemy, 
Abdul  Hamid,  in  Salonica,  he  said,  "  Yes,  it  is  true;  the  Lord 
took  the  chains  off  of  my  neck  and  put  them  around  his." 

He  was  a  very  benevolent  looking  old  patriarch,  with  a  long 
white  beard  and  a  kindly,  untroubled  expression  which  I  do 
not  wonder  won  him  friends  and  converts  in  America  among 
those  who,  like  the  ancient  Athenians,  "  found  time  for 
nothing  else  but  either  to  tell  or  to  hear  some  new  thing." 

Damascus,  which  was  next  on  our  route,  we  found  the 
most  interesting  of  all  Syrian  cities,  except  for  its  dearth  of 
sacred  associations.  This  dearth  however  is  only  comparative. 
Here  we  could  follow  Paul  through  the  street  that  is  called 
Straight  to  the  home  of  Judas,  where  he  lodged,  and  where  he 
was  visited  by  Ananias,  through  whose  kindly  hands  he  re- 
ceived again  the  sight  which  the  vision  on  the  Damascus  Road 
had  temporarily  darkened. 


IN    THE     HOLY    LAND    ONCE    MORE  48  I 

Here,  too,  we  could  recall  the  far  earlier  days  of  Abraham, 
and  remember  that  his  steward  Eliezer  was  a  Damascene. 
The  Abana  and  Pharpar  still  flow  by  the  ancient  city,  the 
rivers  which  Naaman  considered,  with  some  apparent  justice, 
so  much  better  than  the  muddy  Jordan  for  his  cleansing  bath. 
The  former  is  now  called  the  Barada,  and  flows  through  the 
very  heart  of  the  city,  rising  in  a  wonderful  spring,  some 
twenty  or  thirty  miles  east  of  the  city  of  Damascus.  The  rail- 
road to  Baalbec  follows  the  Barada  in  all  its  windings  to  its 
source,  and  there  are  few  more  picturesque  journeys  than 
this,  made  charming  as  it  is  by  rugged  hills  and  the  leaping, 
sparkling  river,  which  seems  to  hurry  onward  in  order  that  it 
may  bring  life  and  beauty  to  the  ancient  city. 

Around  the  city  are  miles  and  miles  of  beautiful  orchards 
of  semi-tropical  growth,  and  it  is  said  that  the  trimmings  and 
waste  woods  from  these  forests  of  fruit  trees  provide  the 
populous  city  with  all  its  necessary  firewood.  The  oasis  which 
these  rivers  have  made  possible  in  the  midst  of  the  desert, 
also  made  it  inevitable  that  a  great  city,  perhaps  the  oldest  in 
the  world,  should  here  be  established,  and  we  do  not  cavil  at 
the  truth  of  the  old  legend  that  Mohammed,  when  he  saw  the 
city,  surrounded  by  its  vast  greenery,  declared  that  he  would 
not  enter  it,  because  man  could  have  but  one  Paradise,  and  he 
preferred  the  heavenly  home  to  Damascus. 

In  some  respects  19 12  was  a  particularly  interesting  time 
to  visit  Damascus,  because  of  the  excitement  which  prevailed 
in  regard  to  the  Libyan  War  in  which  Italy  was  then  engaged. 
A  "  Holy  War  "  had  been  proclaimed  against  Italy,  and  some 
hundreds  of  Moslems  had  come  from  India  to  arouse  the 
people  against  the  foes  of  Mohammedanism.  They  made 
a  great  noise  and  clatter,  as  they  paraded  through  the  narrow 
streets  of  Damascus,  shouting  their  war  cry  and  waving  their 
banners  in  a  belligerent  manner. 

We  crowded  ourselves  into  the  sheltering  nook  of  a  friendly 
bazaar  as  they  rushed  by,  but  noticed  that  they  received  very 


482  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

little  attention  from  the  populace,  and  that  the  business  of  the 
bazaars  was  scarcely  interrupted  for  a  moment.  Evidently 
the  arousing  Jehad  did  not  arouse. 

It  is  worth  while  recording  some  impressions  of  Damascus 
as  it  was  at  that  time,  since  so  many  changes  have  since 
taken  place.  In  19 12  the  East  and  the  West  seemed  to  be 
fighting  for  the  mastery  of  Damascus  5  civilization  and  barbar- 
ism struggling  for  supremacy.  The  swift  trolley  cars,  rushing 
at  break-neck  speed  through  the  tortuous  streets,  jostled  the 
slow-moving  camels. 

The  telegraph  wires  and  the  great  monument  to  celebrate 
the  completion  of  telegraphic  communication  with  Mecca  were 
indications  of  modern  haste  and  the  annihilation  of  space, 
while  business  was  still  carried  on  in  the  bazaars  in  the  same 
leisurely  way,  over  innumerable  cups  of  coffee,  as  it  had  been 
for  a  thousand  years  past. 

Instead  of  having  an  asylum  for  the  insane  with  fine  build- 
ings and  spacious  grounds  as  in  Western  lands,  the  poor, 
demented  creatures  were  chained  to  staples  in  the  wall  of 
houses  or  shops  while  they  were  covered  from  the  burning 
rays  of  the  sun  only  with  a  piece  of  ragged  burlap.  Other 
lunatics  who  were  less  dangerous,  ran  freely  through  the 
streets,  some  of  them  with  small  trees  over  their  shoulders, 
with  which  in  a  terrifying,  though  really  harmless  way  they 
would  attack  the  passers-by,  demanding  backshish,  which  I,^ 
at  least,  thought  best  to  give  them  as  the  guide  books  advised 
without  any  unnecessary  parleying. 

Many  cook-shops  lined  the  streets  in  some  parts  of  the 
city,  where  grinning  calves'  heads  were  displayed.  Savory 
pieces  of  lean  meat  interlarded  with  pieces  of  fat  from  the 
large,  flat  tails  of  the  sheep,  were  broiling  on  spits  over  open 
fires,  and  almost  on  the  sidewalk  itself.  The  savory  odors 
doubtless  attracted  many  customers  to  these  open-air  cook- 
shops,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  flat  cakes  of  bread  were  laid 
out  on  the  open  side-walk,  exposed  to  all  the  dust  and  microbes 
of  the  streets. 


IN    THE    HOLY    LAND    ONCE    MORE  483 

Yet  there  were  some  really  good  hotels  of  modern  char- 
acter and  often  under  German  control,  which  catered  to 
wealthier  customers,  side  by  side  with  ancient  cook-shops. 

Damascus  has  been  an  important  city  during  all  the  years 
of  recorded  history,  and  perhaps  for  centuries  before  re- 
corded time,  and  it  gives  promise  of  being  a  metropolis  for 
thousands  of  years  to  come  should  the  world  survive  so  long. 
It  is  a  railroad  centre  of  considerable  importance,  having  com- 
munication with  Mecca  on  the  south,  Aleppo  on  the  north,  and 
Beirut  on  the  west. 

We  took  the  latter  direction,  but  determined  to  spend  at 
least  a  few  hours  in  Baalbec  that  we  might  view  its  mighty 
stones.  Baalbec  is  a  city  of  mystery.  Little  seems  to  be 
known  of  its  history  or  its  rulers,  but  they  must  have  been 
Titans  if  we  may  judge  from  the  enormous  stones  which 
they  heaved  into  place  in  building  their  mighty  temples  and 
palaces.  It  is  a  standing  wonder  that  I  have  never  seen  satis- 
factorily explained,  how  in  those  early  days,  with  the  primi- 
tive tools  that  must  have  been  used,  such  gigantic  blocks 
could  have  been  hewn  out  of  the  quarries,  transported  over 
miles  of  hilly  territory,  and  hoisted  into  their  places  in  the 
enormous  walls  which  there  towered  to  the  sky. 

We  visited  the  quarry  from  which  many  of  the  largest  stones 
have  been  hewn.  One  of  them  still  lies  near  its  original 
home,  and,  as  one  looks  at  it  from  a  little  distance  and  sees, 
as  I  did,  a  man  stretched  out  upon  it  at  full  length,  one  gets 
the  impression  of  an  insect  on  a  small  hill.  And  yet  it  was 
such  men,  such  creatures  as  are  represented  by  that  out- 
stretched peasant,  who  hewed  out  these  enormous  blocks  of 
stone  and  lifted  them  into  their  permanent  abiding-place. 

The  journey  over  the  Lebanon  mountains  to  Beirut  is  one  of 
the  most  charming  in  all  the  world.  For  miles  magnificent 
views  greet  the  eye  as  the  train  climbs  the  summit  of  the 
mountains  and  goes  down  to  the  Mediterranean  shore  in  many 
zigzags  on  the  farther  side. 


484  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Dr.  Howard  Bliss,  President  of  the  Syrian  Protestant 
College,  kindly  met  us  at  the  station,  and  insisted  upon  our 
being  his  guests.  The  college  had  been  greatly  enlarged  and 
improved  since  we  were  there  twenty  years  before.  Some- 
thing like  a  score  of  fine  stone  buildings  dot  the  ample  campus, 
while  the  view  from  the  college  grounds,  over  the  city  and 
harbor  of  Beirut  and  the  open  Mediterranean,  is  entrancing. 
The  buildings  and  equipment  of  this  college  are  equal  to 
those  of  almost  any  of  our  American  colleges.  Neither  Dart- 
mouth nor  Amherst,  Williams  nor  Princeton,  can  boast  of 
better  dormitories  or  class-rooms,  and  the  administration  of 
the  two  Doctors  Bliss,  father  and  son,  has  been  extraordinarily 
successful.  Dr.  Daniel  Bliss  was  then  still  alive,  though  he 
died  shortly  afterwards,  and  I  have  seen  few  more  beautiful 
sights  than  the  handsome  old  President  Emeritus,  then  nearly 
ninety  years  old,  and  his  fine-looking  son,  jointly  leading 
the  morning  prayers,  with  hundreds  of  attentive  Syrian  youths 
before  them  in  the  commodious  college  chapel.  Alas!  the  son, 
too,  has  since  joined  the  great  majority,  mourned  by  multi- 
tudes of  the  many  races  whom  he  inspired  to  a  better  life. 

My  friend,  Dr.  Charles  E.  Jefferson,  of  Broadway  Taber- 
nacle, New  York  City,  happened  to  be  in  Beirut  during  part 
of  our  stay,  and  we  heard  him  preach  one  of  his  admirable 
sermons  to  the  college  boys  and  their  friends.  He  seldom 
or  never  "  strikes  anything  but  twelve  "  when  he  speaks,  and 
I  regard  him  as  one  of  the  very  best  preachers  in  America, 
simple  in  his  style,  quiet  in  his  delivery,  but  most  effective 
in  the  limpid  logic  of  his  thoughts,  and  the  beauty  of  his 
illustrations. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  side-trips  of  all  this  journey 
was  our  visit  to  Sidon  and  Tyre,  whither  we  went  led  by  the 
memories  of  St.  Paul  and  also  by  the  historic  and  Biblical 
lore  connected  with  these  ancient  cities.  We  were  accompanied 
by  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Ford,  Presbyterian  missionaries  of  Beirut, 
and  the  thirty-mile  carriage  ride  along  the  Mediterranean 
shore  was  a  memorable  one. 


IN    THE     HOLY    LAND    ONCE    MORE  485 

First  we  drove  through  an  immense  olive  orchard,  miles  in 
extent,  while  many  mulberrry  groves  which  feed  the  silk- 
worm, grew  at  intervals  all  along  the  route.  Near  the  water 
courses  which  we  occasionally  crossed,  great  clumps  of  olean- 
ders made  the  landscape  gay.  Scarcely  ever,  during  all  the 
journey,  were  we  out  of  sight  or  sound  of  the  sea.  Sometimes 
great  rocky  cliifs  and  huge  boulders  against  which  the  white 
surf  perpetually  dashed,  hid  the  water  for  a  few  moments,  but 
much  of  the  way  hard  beaches  of  yellow  sand  stretched  be- 
side the  carriage  road.  On  one  of  these  beaches,  we  were 
gravely  assured,  Jonah  was  cast  up,  after  his  adventurous  ride 
in  the  whale,  and  here  is  his  tomb  beside  the  very  spot!  The 
ancient  care-taker  let  us  look  into  the  vault,  and  there,  wonder- 
ful to  relate,  was  not  only  the  place  where  he  had  lain,  but 
the  very  wooden  coffin  which  contained  his  bones.  To  show 
that  the  coffin  was  no  fake,  we  were  actually  allowed  to  touch 
it,  and  get  so  near  to  the  illustrious  mariner. 

Another  interesting  incident  of  this  ride  was  a  call  on  a 
Druse  prince,  with  whom  our  missionary  guide  was  acquainted. 
He  lives  in  a  modest  little  castle  on  the  very  shore  of  the 
Mediterranean,  and  while  the  ladies  of  the  party  went  into 
the  inner  room  to  converse  with  the  princess,  upon  whom  the 
profane  eyes  of  strange  men  could  never  gaze,  the  prince 
entertained  Dr.  Ford  and  myself  with  cups  of  Turkish  coffee, 
and  the  oifer,  which  we  declined,  of  Turkish  cigarettes. 

Several,  silk  mills  were  passed  on  this  journey,  into  one  of 
which  went,  and  saw  the  boiling  cocoons,  and  the  filaments 
of  silk  unwound  from  them  by  the  dexterous  hands  of  Syrian 
maidens. 

Sidon,  though  stripped  of  its  ancient  glory,  is  still  an  inter- 
esting city  with  a  number  of  large  mosques,  from  which  we 
could  hear  the  call  of  the  muezzin  five  times  a  day,  and  fre- 
quently see  the  lonely  dervish,  pacing  around  the  little  balcony 
near  the  top  of  the  minaret  as  he  proclaimed  that  prayer  was 
better  than  sleep  and  better  than  food.     The  Presbyterians 


486  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

are  doing  a  fine  work  in  Sidon,  and  their  schools  as  well  as 
their  churches  reach  a  large  number  of  modern  Sidonians. 

Tyre  and  Sidon  are  always  coupled  together  in  Scripture 
phrase  and  in  history.  The  next  day  we  went  on  to  Tyre, 
thirty  miles  south,  which  is  a  much  more  disreputable  and 
woe-begone  city  than  Sidon,  even  though  very  little  can  be 
said  for  the  cleanliness  of  the  latter  in  these  modern  days. 
It  seems  as  though  the  terrible  prophecies  concerning  Tyre 
had  been  entirely  fulfilled.  It  is  now  but  a  wretched  hamlet, 
with  intolerably  filthy  streets,  and  with  only  one  oasis,  the 
mission  house  and  premises  of  the  English  Woman's  Mis- 
sionary Society. 

But  how  many  memories  the  very  name  of  Tyre  brings 
back!  The  glorious  ancient  metropolis,  "  the  Joyous  City," 
whose  destruction  Isaiah  predicted,  the  city  which  resisted 
the  all-conquering  might  of  Alexander  the  Great  for  many 
months,  until  at  last  he  built,  with  incredible  labor  and  loss 
of  life,  a  causeway  to  the  island  on  which  it  was  then  situated. 
This  causeway  is  now  a  part  of  the  mainland,  half  a  mile  broad, 
for  the  sea  has  washed  in  the  sand  on  either  side,  and  enor- 
mously increased  its  original  proportions.  Here  are  the  re- 
mains of  a  Crusader's  church,  and  some  great  pillars  of  ancient 
Tyre,  mostly  submerged,  give  a  hint  of  her  former  glory. 

As  we  looked  at  this  squalid  town,  at  the  ragged  fishermen 
drying  their  nets  on  the  rocks  that  were  once  covered  with 
palaces,  the  words  of  Isaiah  seemed  full  of  prophetic  irony: 
"  Is  this  your  joyous  city,  whose  antiquity  is  of  ancient 
days  ...  the  crowning  city  whose  merchants  are  princes,  whose 
traffickers  are  the  honorable  of  the  earth?  The  Lord  of  hosts 
hath  purposed  it,  to  stain  the  pride  of  all  glory,  and  to  bring 
into  contempt  all  the  honorable  of  the  earth." 

We  drove  back  to  Sidon  the  same  day,  stopping  for  a  short 
time  to  visit  Zarephath  in  memory  of  Elijah,  though  there  is 
nothing  now  to  be  seen  but  a  hill,  ,with  a  few  small  ruins.  We 
visited  what  we  were  assured  was  the  tomb  of  Elijah,  a  small 


IN    THE    HOLY    LAND    ONCE    MORE  48/ 

Moslem  building  with  a  little  dome,  a  sad  place  with  which 
to  associate  the  bold  leader  who  did  not  hesitate  to  defy  all 
the  prophets  of  Baal. 

On  reaching  Sidon  we  visited  both  the  Castle  of  the  Sea, 
and  the  Land  Castle.  The  former  is  a  striking  landmark, 
or  rather  sea-mark,  for  it  is  connected  with  the  land  by  the 
narrowest  causeway,  and  one  has  to  jump  from  one  great 
hewn  stone  to  another  to  reach  the  ruins  of  the  old  castle. 
At  times  these  ruins  are  silhouetted  against  the  sky,  when  the 
sun  is  right,  in  a  remarkable  way. 

But  what  interested  me  most  in  Sidon  was  the  great  hill 
composed  entirely  of  shells  of  the  curious  convoluted  cockle 
from  which  the  famous  Tyrian  dye  was  made.  Though  Sidon 
furnished  most  of  the  shells.  Tyre  gave  its  name  to  the  royal 
purple  with  which  the  robes  of  kings  and  conquerors  were 
dyed.  One  of  these  hills,  as  I  remember  it,  is  still  something 
like  150  feet  long,  and  50  feet  high,  and  vast  portions  of  it 
very  likely  have  been  washed  away  during  the  last  twenty 
centuries.  A  few  live  Tyrian  dye  shells  are  still  found,  but 
the  mollusc  seems  to  be  practically  extinct  when  compared 
with  the  vast  number  of  its  ancestors.  However,  he  is  little 
missed,  since  the  aniline  dyes  have  made  him  superfluous. 

After  spending  two  or  three  more  busy  days,  crowded  with 
meetings  and  with  calls  among  our  kind  missionary  friends, 
we  took  a  ship  of  the  Messageries  Line,  which  by  good 
fortune  proved  to  be  a  very  comfortable  one,  to  Port  Said. 
Here  a  most  trying  quarantine  inspection,  four  hours  long, 
awaited  us,  before  we  could  take  the  train  for  Cairo,  where 
we  installed  ourselves  in  the  Khedivial  Hotel.  But  our  mis- 
sionary friends  would  not  allow  us  to  stay  long  in  the  seclusion 
of  our  inn,  but  insisted  that  we  should  take  up  our  quarters 
with  them  during  the  few  days  of  our  stay  in  this  most  inter- 
esting city. 

The  Christian  Endeavor  movement  has  long  flourished  in 
the  splendid  mission  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  and 


488  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

we  were  kept  busy  with  meetings  of  various  kinds  in  churches 
and  schools,  and  with  sight-seeing,  of  which  this  wonderful 
city  provides  a  superabundance. 

An  interesting  trip  up  the  Nile  to  Assiout  occupied  a  couple 
of  days.  We  could  not  afford  the  time  to  go  by  river,  and  so 
took  a  fast  train  each  way.  Our  brief  stay  gave  us  a  chance 
to  see  this  interesting  and  ancient  city  of  the  fruitful  Nile, 
with  its  palms  and  its  abundant  flowers.  Many  fine  residences 
of  the  Egyptian  nobles  and  bourgeoisie,  some  of  whom  have 
made  great  sums  of  money  since  the  British  occupation,  are 
found  here,  as  well  as  the  slums  where  the  proletariat  live, 
and  the  Egyptian  of  this  type  is  about  the  lowest  in  the  world. 

The  United  Presbyterians  here  have  a  fine  college  with 
half  a  thousand  pupils,  and  the  hospital,  when  we  saw  it,  was 
besieged  with  a  motley  throng  of  afflicted  humanity.  Since 
our  visit  I  have  kept  up  a  sporadic  correspondence  with  some 
of  the  students,  as  I  had  with  some  of  the  missionaries  for 
many  years  previously.  One  letter  from  an  ardent  Christian 
Endeavorer  in  the  college  tells  of  a  "  love  committee  "  in  the 
society,  whose  purpose  is  not  to  m.ake  matches,  as  its  name 
might  indicate,  but  to  relieve  the  homesickness  of  the  new 
students,  and  to  make  all  feel  at  home  in  college  circles.  The 
college  itself  is  called  by  many  of  the  outsiders,  "  the  Good 
Factory,"  because  it  has  transformed  the  lives  of  so  many 
of  the  boys,  who  have  come  from  desperately  unwholesome 
surroundings. 

Our  further  engagements  allowed  us  to  spend  but  one  night 
in  Cairo  on  our  return,  after  which  we  hurried  on  to  Alexandria 
to  take  the  steamer  for  Catania  on  the  Sicilian  shore.  Never- 
theless, before  leaving  Cairo,  we  had  an  hour  or  two  for  a 
visit  to  New  Heliopolis,  the  wonderful,  brand-new,  spick  and 
span  suburb  of  Cairo,  built  on  the  yellow  desert  sands  that 
have  been  made  fruitful  by  abundant  water.  Here  in  the 
really  palatial  hotels  and  apartment  houses  the  rich  inhabi- 
tants of  Cairo  foregather  when  they  wish  to  get  out  of  the 


IN    THE    HOLY    LAND    ONCE    MORE  489 

noise  and  bustle  of  the  great  city.  New  Heliopolis  is  brilliant 
with  splendid  flower  gardens,  fine  avenues  of  trees,  and  all 
the  charms  which  the  fertile  soil,  when  irrigated,  can  produce 
under  Egypt's  tropical  skies. 

I  should  have  said,  too,  that  we  did  not  omit  the  Pyramids 
and  the  Sphinx.  However  many  times  one  sees  Cairo,  con- 
science and  inclination  will  not  allow  one  to  omit  the  Pyramids, 
the  first  of  the  Seven  Wonders  of  the  World.  Our  visit  this 
time  was  made  toward  sunset,  and  a  glorious  crimson  and 
golden  sky  added  their  greater  glories  to  the  stupendous  im- 
pressions of  these  marvellous  works  of  man. 

In  Alexandria  we  were  the  guests  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Phinney 
of  the  Missionary  Board,  and  though  it  was  Thanksgiving 
Day,  and  abundant  good  cheer  had  been  provided,  not  for- 
getting a  turkey  of  Egyptian  breed,  we  could  not  wait  for 
dinner,  and  part  at  least  of  the  lunch  kindly  prepared  for  us 
before  we  sailed  had  to  be  consigned  to  the  Mediterranean. 

Three  days  later,  we  reached  Catania  on  the  Sicilian  shore. 
It  did  not  detain  us  long  though  it  is  a  city  of  historic  interest, 
lying  under  the  shadow  of  Mt.  Aetna,  which  has  more  than 
once  overwhelmed  it,  with  frightful  loss  of  life,  so  that  the 
points  of  modern  interest  are  not  many. 

The  next  day  found  us  in  Syracuse,  a  place  vastly  more 
attractive  to  the  traveller.  Few  cities  in  all  the  world  have 
seen  and  made  so  much  human  history  as  Syracuse.  Cartha- 
ginians and  Greeks  and  Romans,  Normans,  British  and  Bour- 
bons, French  and  Italians,  have  battled  for  the  island  of 
which  it  was  once  the  great  metropolis.  Here  St.  Paul  stayed 
for  seven  days  after  escaping  from  the  perils  of  the  sea  and 
the  perils  of  the  land  on  the  island  of  Malta.  Here 
Demosthenes  and  his  Athenian  army  were  defeated  and  over- 
whelmed by  the  Syracusans,  and  here  Archimedes  invented 
the  screw  and  the  lever  with  which  he  declared  he  could  move 
the  world,  could  he  only  find  a  pou  sto.  Here,  too,  he  was 
killed  while  bravely  defending  his  native  city. 


490  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

The  most  interesting  statue  in  Syracuse  is  one  of  this  same 
philosopher.  It  is  situated  in  a  beautiful  little  park  near  the 
sea,  and  close  to  the  bubbling  fountain  of  Arethusa,  in  whose 
limpid  waters  great  fish  go  darting  in  and  out  among  the 
rocks  and  water  grasses.  One  might  write  a  book  about  Syra- 
cuse, if  one  attempted  to  tell  of  its  interesting  historic  sights, 
and  I  can  merely  catalogue  a  few  of  them,  like  Diana's  temple 
and  St,  Paul's  Church,  the  Greek  theatre,  the  great  amphi- 
theatre, and  the  vast  caves  hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock,  called 
the  "  Ear  of  Dionysius." 

Here  it  is  said  that  the  Tyrant  could  sit  near  the  entrance 
and  hear  the  plots  of  all  the  prisoners  confined  within  the 
cave,  even  though  they  spoke  in  whispers,  and  it  is  perfectly 
true  that  at  a  certain  point  in  the  cave  a  distant  whisper  can 
be  heard,  and  the  slamming  of  a  door  sounds  like  a  reverberat- 
ing clap  of  thunder. 

In  the  midst  of  the  crooked,  narrow  lanes  and  dirty  hovels 
of  the  modern  city  is  a  little  church,  on  which  is  a  recent  tablet 
declaring  that  "  here  Paul  once  preached,"  a  statement  founded 
on  facts  as  verifiable  as  the  tomb  of  Jonah  on  the  Mediter- 
ranean coast. 

After  leaving  Syracuse,  our  next  night  was  spent  in  ruined 
Messina.  Although  this  was  several  years  after  the  great 
earthquake  the  city  had  scarcely  begun  to  recover  from  that 
terrible  disaster.  We  reached  there  after  dark,  and  as  we 
walked  through  the  deserted  streets  the  great  stone  business 
blocks  and  warehouses  seemed  substantial  and  untouched  as 
they  loomed  above  us  in  the  semi-darkness.  But  the  next 
morning  we  saw  that  they  were  tenantless  and  that  there 
was  no  light  in  the  eyeless  sockets  of  the  windows,  for  they 
were  mere  shells.  Everything  within  them  was  but  dust 
and  ashes,  and  there  had  been  no  attempt  to  rebuild  these 
splendid  blocks.  The  citizens,  evidently  discouraged  by  re- 
peated earthquakes,  were  living  for  the  most  part  in  the  Campo 
Amencana^  so  called,  the  settlement  of  small  wooden  houses 


IN    THE    HOLY    LAND    ONCE    MORE  491 

which  had  been  transported  ready  made  from  benevolent 
America  at  the  time  of  the  earthquake.  A  little  business  was 
being  done  in  temporary  shacks,  and  the  hotels  were  of  the 
most  primitive  character  imaginable.  One  night  and  part 
of  a  day  were  more  than  enough  for  Messina,  but  the  dis- 
comfort of  the  dirty  hotel  was  wiped  from  memory's  slate  by 
the  charm  of  the  next  day's  ride  along  the  shore  of  southern 
Italy,  always  within  sight  of  the  sounding  sea  on  one  side  and 
glorious,  green-clad  hills  on  the  other. 

In  Naples  we  felt  that  we  w^ere  back  in  the  world  again, 
and  in  a  very  familiar  world  to  us.  Here  we  stayed  long 
enough  to  visit  with  considerable  care  Pozzuoli,  the  ancient 
Puteoli,  drawn  thither  as  to  so  many  other  places  by  the  fact 
that  here  St.  Paui  landed,  and  took  up  his  weary  march,  as  a 
chained  prisoner,  on  to  Romej  for  we  were  still  following  in 
his  footsteps. 

Pozzuoli  is  a  filthv  and  degenerate  citv,  in  a  most  lovelv 
situation.  Every  distant  prospect  pleases,  but  man  and 
the  immediate  surroundings  are  vile  enough.  I  do  not  dwell 
on  these  towns  that  we  visited  on  this  journey  since  I  have 
described  them  at  length  in  "  The  Footsteps  of  St.  Paul,"  for 
that  book  was  largely  written  in  the  cities  that  we  visited,  and 
the  chapters  appeared  first  as  articles  in  The  Christian  Herald. 

From  Naples  we  made  a  somewhat  zigzag  journey  to 
Montreux  in  Switzerland,  visiting  Rome  for  a  few  days, 
where  we  took  especial  pains  again  to  see  the  Appian  Way, 
and  the  Church  of  St.  Paul  without  the  "Walls,  the  Tre 
Fontane,  the  House  of  Pudens,  the  Church  of  St.  Pudentiana, 
the  dungeon  of  the  Mammertine  Prison,  and  other  places 
either  of  historic  or  traditional  interest  in  St.  Paul's  life. 

To  Florence  and  Bologna,  and  Turin  and  Spallanza,  we 
again  gave  a  day  each,  and  attended  several  Christian  Endeavor 
rallies,  thus  hoping  to  do  something  for  the  cause  which  how- 
ever has  in  Italy  small  chance  to  grow  in  the  somewhat  thin 
soil  of  Italian  Protestantism. 


492  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

To  Montreux  came  our  oldest  son  Eugene  who  was  taking 
his  college  Sabbatical  in  Freiburg,  his  wife  and  their  dear  little 
son,  and  here  the  six  of  us  enjoyed  a  most  happy  Christmas 
day  and  a  holiday  week  together  which  we  shall  all  long 
remember. 


Chapter   XLII 
Year   1913 

THE   LAND   OF   THE   MID-DAY    MOON 

FAR    BEYOND    THE    ARCTIC    CIRCLE THE    GREAT    MAGNET 

A     DAY     WITHOUT     A     SUNRISE FARTHEST     NORTH A 

CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  MEETING  IN  NORWAY's  NATIONAL 
CATHEDRAL THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  LITTLE  NUT- 
SELLER —  Finland's  beautiful  churches  —  meet- 
ings  IN   GERMANY,   FRANCE,   AND   ITALY. 

HAVE  already  described  one  visit  to  Scandi- 
navia, but  the  journey  of  19 13  had  so  many 
interesting  features,  taking  me  to  the  farthest 
point  north  that  1  have  ever  touched,  that  I 
will  devote  to  it  a  few  pages. 

On  the  very  first  day  of  1913  I  started 
with  my  youngest  son,  Sydney,  for  the  Land  of  the  Mid-day 
Moon.  It  is  not  necessary  in  these  days  to  go  by  reindeer 
sledge  or  the  light-footed  skis,  as  in  Bayard  Taylor's  time, 
for  warm  and  comfortably  upholstered  railway  trains  run  far 
beyond  the  Arctic  Circle,  lured  thither  by  the  great  iron 
mines  in  Gellivara  and  Kiruna  where  Swedish  iron,  the  best 
in  the  world,  is  mined. 

On  and  on  this  adventurous  railway  runs,  across  the  moun- 
tains that  divide  Sweden  and  Norway,  to  Narvik,  a  port  on 
one  of  the  splendid  Norwegian  fjords,  which  is  kept  open  all 
the  year  round  in  spite  of  its  latitude,  by  the  beneficent  Gulf 
Stream. 

The  place  where  we  first  found  ourselves  beyond  the  sun- 
rise was  Gellivara,  where  we  spent  a  day  and  a  night.     We 

493 


494  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

went  out  on  the  snow-covered  hills,  anxiously  watching  the 
eastern  sky  as  it  glowed  and  reddened  from  ten  o'clock  to 
eleven,  to  twelve,  and  then  gradually  faded  into  a  sunset 
without  a  sunrise,  until,  by  two  o'clock,  the  chickens  decided 
that  it  was  time  to  go  to  roost  again.  We  had  feared  that 
we  might  not  have  reached  the  latitude  of  a  sunless  day  and 
a  mid-day  moon,  but  were  glad  to  see  that  the  orb  of  day 
rolled  along  just  beneath  the  horizon  and  did  not  show  his 
face. 

A  little  farther  south  we  should  have  seen  him  touching 
the  eastern  plain  like  a  huge  ball  of  fire,  just  skimming  the 
snowy  uplands,  or  perhaps  only  half  visible  before  he  dipped 
below  the  horizon  again.  I  have  read  in  the  books  of  other 
travellers  that  there  is  a  weird  and  uncanny  feeling  about  this 
experience  in  these  latitudes  of  the  sunless  winter  days,  but  I 
must  say  that  I  did  not  realize  any  unusual  emotions.  A 
glorious  dawn  sank  into  a  no  less  glorious  evening  and  that 
,was  all,  while  men  went  about  their  tasks  with  unconcern  as 
though  it  were  broad  daylight. 

By  two  o'clock  the  electric  lights  began  to  twinkle  all  over 
Gellivara  and  the  iron  mines  near  by,  and  working  hours  were 
not  curtailed  by  lack  of  sunlight.  At  intervals  throughout 
the  day  we  heard  tremendous  explosions  like  the  booming  of 
cannon  in  a  gre,at  battle,  but  it  was  the  peaceful  battle  of 
workmen  loosening  the  deeply  imbedded  ore.  Hours  would 
be  spent  in  drilling  the  holes  in  the  mountain,  with  the  latest 
machinery.  Dynamite  would  be  inserted,  and  then,  while  the 
workmen  made  themselves  safe,  fifty  or  a  hundred  detona- 
tions would  tell  us  that  the  mountain  was  being  rent  and  the 
precious  ore  loosened  from  its  bed. 

The  iron  mountain  at  Gellivara  is  only  one  of  several  in 
this  vicinity.  A  larger  and  richer  hill  is  at  Kiruna  near  by. 
Several  others  were  also  being  worked,  and  a  still  larger 
number  of  iron  mountains  are  known  to  exist  which  are  wait- 
ing for  future  generations  to  exploit  them. 


THE    LAND    OF    THE    MID-DAY    MOON  495 

The  Reindeer  Market  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  fea- 
tures of  these  towns.  The  Laplanders  often  drive  in  with  a 
team  of  half  a  dozen  reindeer  which,  when  they  reach  town, 
contentedly  lie  down  in  the  snow  and  chew  the  scanty  fodder 
provided  for  them. 

The  hotel  accommodations  in  these  northern  towns  are 
often  found  in  connection  with  the  railway  stations,  and  are 
clean  and  comfortable,  while  the  fare  at  the  railway  restau- 
rants would  make  even  George  Harvey  extend  himself  if 
he  .wished  to  equal  it.  As  to  price,  the  sum  we  paid  seemed 
ridiculously  small  to  one  even  casually  acquainted  with  New 
York  hotels,  where  a  cup  of  coffee  and  a  slice  of  toast  would 
cost  at  least  twice  as  much  as  a  square  meal  of  soup,  fish,  meat, 
salad,  and  desert,  in  a  Swedish  railway  restaurant.  It  must  be 
confessed,  however,  that  these  were  before-the-war  prices. 
They  are  now  much  higher  in  Sweden  as  elsewhere. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  farther  north  we  went  the 
warmer  it  grew.  On  the  Swedish  side  of  the  mountains  the 
weather  was  intensely  cold.  We  happened  to  experience 
nothing  on  this  journey  in  Sweden  colder  than  twenty  below 
zero,  though  the  mercury  often  goes  to  forty  or  fifty  below. 
Push  steadily  north,  cross  the  mountains,  which  in  one  or  two 
places  are  tunneled,  and  you  come  into  a  comparatively  balmy 
atmosphere  even  in  mid-winter  though  you  are  150  miles 
beyond  the  Arctic  circle.  When  we  reached  Narvik  in  Nor- 
way it  was  raining  instead  of  snowing.  There  was  no  sign  of 
ice  on  the  fjord,  and  we  took  a  long  ride  in  and  out  of  its 
many  bays  on  a  little  steamer,  and  scarcely  felt  the  need  of  an 
overcoat.  Yet,  if  I  remember  rightly,  the  sun  had  not  risen 
upon  the  evil  and  the  good  of  Narvik  for  a  month,  and 
,would  not  rise  upon  them  for  another  month.  On  the  placid 
waters  of  this  splendid  harbor  many  ships  loaded  with  iron 
were  riding.  One  of  them  I  noticed  was  bound  for  Philadel- 
phia, showing  that  Pennsylvania  in  spite  of  her  own  mines, 
could  not  get  along  without  the  richer  products  of  Sweden. 


496  MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN     IN    MANY    LANDS 

On  our  return  from  the  far  north  we  spent  a  night  in  Luleo, 
at  the  very  topmost  point  of  the  Gulf  of  Bothnia.  The  whole 
gulf  seemed  to  be  frozen  solid,  and  many  vessels  were  in 
terned  by  a  power  mightier  than  either  the  Germans  or  the 
Allies  exercised  a  year  later.  Luleo  is  a  quaint  old  fishing 
town,  not  far  from  the  Arctic  Circle.  It  boasts  a  great  summer 
hotel  and  a  large  and  imposing  Lutheran  Church  of^  brick. 
We  had  now  come  into  zero  weather  again,  and  the  rain  which 
had  fallen  the  day  before  was  congealed  on  every  twig  and 


Ancient  Norwegian  Church 

branchlet,  while  the  big  church  looked  as  though  it  was  en- 
cased in  glass  from  the  foundation  to  the  topmost  spire. 

Near  Luleo  is  a  high  hill  where  St.  John's  Day,  the  day 
on  which  the  sun  reaches  its  highest  point  in  the  zenith,  is 
always  celebrated  with  glad  rejoicing  by  these  ice-bound 
people  who,  for  weeks,  have  to  live  in  a  dim  Arctic  twilight. 

Cutting  across  Sweden  into  Norway  again,  we  came  to 
Trondjhem  ,where  a  large  Christian  Endeavor  meeting  had 
been  arranged  in  the  old  Cathedral,  famous  throughout  Nor- 
way as  the  Coronation  Church  of  kings  for  centuries  past,  and 
their  mausoleum  as  well.     Here  King  Haakon,  .the  present 


THE    LAND    OF    THE    MID-DAY    MOON  497 

king,  was  crowned  after  the  many  years  interregnum  of  purely 
Norwegian  kings,  while  good  King  Oscar  of  Sweden  reigned 
over  both  kingdoms. 

It  was  interesting  to  me  as  I  stood  in  the  high  pulpit  with 
my  kind  interpreter,  Rev.  H.  B.  Klaeboe,  to  watch  the  faces 
of  the  people,  several  hundreds  of  whom  were  standing, 
throughout  the  service,  around  the  pulpit  in  the  dim  religious 
light.  One  could  not  help  thinking  at  the  same  time  of  all 
the  high  ceremonies  connected  with  royalty  and  the  commoner 
folks,  ceremonies  of  life  and  death,  baptisms  and  burials,  which 
had  taken  place  in  that  old  sanctuary. 

This  cathedral  is  considered  the  finest  piece  of  architecture 
in  Scandinavia,  and  one  of  the  few  perfect  Gothic  buildings 
in  the  world. 

My  friend,  Mr.  Klaeboe,  of  whom  I  have  before  spoken, 
accompanied  us  in  much  of  our  further  journey  in  Scandinavia, 
and  rendered  great  service  to  the  Christian  Endeavor  cause 
in  obtaining  a  hearing  for  it  from  all  classes  of  people,  from 
King  Haakon  himself  to  the  humblest  peasant  whom  he  found 
in  the  third-class  cars.  In  Christiania  and  Bergen  in  Norway, 
m  Gothenburg  and  Stockholm  in  Sweden,  in  Abo,  Tamerfors, 
and  Helsingfors  in  Finland,  I  found  the  largest  churches  and 
cathedrals  open  to  my  message. 

The  cathedrals  and  churches  of  Finland  were  quite  as 
interesting  as  those  of  the  other  Scandinavian  kingdoms,  espe- 

o 

cially  the  ancient  cathedral  of  Abo,  some  eight  hundred  years 
of  age.  Here,  too,  I  felt  the  same  sensation  as  in  Trondjhem, 
for  these  stones  also  tell  us  the  history  of  much  of  Scandi- 
navia. In  this  cathedral  is  buried  the  pretty  peasant  girl, 
the  little  nut-seller  who  afterwards  became  the  queen  of 
Sweden  j  and  I  was  reminded  of  the  story  that  they  tell  of 
King  Eric  and  Karin  Mansdotter,  the  beautiful  peasant. 

All  kinds  of  objections  were  raised  by  the  king's  nobles  and 
his  relatives,  and  accusations  of  witchcraft  were  made  against 
Karin.     But  the  Swedish  monarch,  who  had  already  been  re- 


498  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

fused  as  a  husband  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  by  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots,  and  by  two  German  princesses,  ,would  not  be  thwarted 
in  this  genuine  love-match,  and  married  Karin  in  spite  of  his 
nobles  and  relatives.  "  Then  a  brother  prince,  who  felt 
deeply  the  disgrace  that  had  been  brought  upon  the  royal  order 
by  this  unseemly  match,  sent  Eric  a  present  of  a  handsome 
royal  cloak,  in  the  back  of  which  was  sewed  a  patch  of  rough 
homespun  cloth.  Eric  accepted  the  gift,  had  the  patch  of 
homespun  embroidered  with  gold  and  studded  with  jewels, 
until  it  was  the  most  brilliant  and  valuable  part  of  the  gar- 
ment, and  then  returned  it  to  the  donor."  Karin's  great  black 
marble  sarcophagus,  on  which  I  gazed  from  the  high  pulpit, 
reminded  me  of  the  little  nut-seller,  who  became  a  queen,  and 
who  showed  her  queenly  qualities  in  adversity  and  exile.  A 
stained-glass  window  in  the  cathedral  shows  her  dressed  in 
white  robes,  with  a  crown  upon  her  head,  stepping  down  from 
her  throne  upon  the  arm  of  a  Finnish  page. 

The  churches  in  which  our  meetings  were  held  in  Tamerfors 
and  Helsingfors  were  more  modern,  but  almost  as  large  and 

o 

imposing  as  the  Cathedral  in  Abo.  One  is  surprised  to  find 
in  this  little  country  which  we  often  consider  remote  and  ice- 
bound, such  splendid  churches. 

In  Tamerfors  for  instance,  an  important  manufacturing 
centre  (whose  name  might  be  translated  into  our  familiar 
"  Grand  Rapids,"  since  it  refers  to  the  deep  and  impetuous 
stream  that  tumbles  through  the  heart  of  the  city),  are  great 
churches  of  cut  stone  that  would  do  credit  to  London  or  New 
York.  It  is  evident  that  the  Finns  are  a  thoroughly  religious 
people,  and,  though  comparatively  poor,  do  not  begrudge  the 
money  that  is  lavished  on  their  churches. 

I  have  always  been  struck,  too,  with  the  high  grade  of 
civilization  which  these  people  of  a  stock  strange  to  the  rest 
of  Europe,  and  allied  to  the  Turks,  have  reached.  Uni- 
versal education  is  no  mere  name  in  Finland.  The  people  are 
in  many  ways  the  best  educated  in  the  world.     The  school- 


THE    LAND    OF    THE    MID-DAY    MOON  499 

master  is  highly  honored.  The  schoolhouses  in  the  larger 
centres  are  models  in  the  way  of  comfort  and  convenience. 
Ample  light  and  ventilation  are  considered  of  special  im- 
portance, and  so  particular  are  the  authorities  in  regard  to 
cleanliness  that  the  modern  schoolrooms  are  built  with  rounded 
corners,  that  unwholesome  dust  may  not  settle  in  them. 

In  Helsingfors,  the  capital,  our  meetings  were  held  in  the 
Church  of  St.  Nicholas,  a  handsome  building  of  the  Greek 
style  of  architecture.  It  stands  on  a  sightly  eminence  near 
the  centre  of  the  city  which  it  dominates.  Here  state  functions 
are  observed,  and  the  legislature  meets  for  certain  religious 
ceremonies. 

I  was  much  interested  in  the  literature  of  Finland,  especially 
in  Kalevala,  the  great  epic  poem  which  is  considered  by 
scholars  as  one  of  the  few  that  may  rank  with  Homer^s  Iliad. 
From  this  poem,  in  his  study  of  Scandinavian  literature, 
Longfellow  learned  the  metre  of  his  Hiawatha.  That  many 
of  the  expressions  and  turns  of  thought  in  his  poem  were  evi- 
dently suggested  by  the  ancient  Kalevala,  is  made  plain  by 
the  following  quotation  from  among  many  that  might  be 
given, 

"  Pleasant   'tis  in   boat  on   water 
Swaying   as   the    boat   glides   onward, 
Gliding   o'er   the   sparkling   water, 
Driving   o'er   its   shiny   surface, 
While  the  wind  the  boat  is  rockino:. 
And  the  waves  drive  on  the  vessel. 
While  the  west  wind  rocks  it  gently, 
And  the  south  wind  drives  it  onward." 

The  Endeavor  movement  has  taken  a  strong  hold  of  the 
Finnish  people  belonging  to  the  Free  Churches,  and  we  en- 
joyed many  pleasant  conferences  and  receptions  in  addition  to 
the  large  public  meetings.  How  little  we  realized,  as  we 
mingled  with  our  kind  hosts  and  hostesses,  and  saw  the  alert 
and  eager  young  men  and  maidens,  that  soon  this  land  was 


500  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

to  be  drenched  in  blood.  Then,  as  on  my  previous  visit,  I 
was  told  sad  tales  of  the  ruthless  oppression  of  the  Czar  and 
his  ministers,  who  had  taken  away  almost  the  last  symbol  of 
Finnish  nationality,  had  forbidden  the  enforcement  of  the 
Prohibition  law,  which  had  been  overwhelmingly  voted,  and 
had  prevented  the  Finns  from  building  the  beautiful  houses  of 
parliament  for  which  money  in  abundance  had  been  voted 
and  collected. 

Soon  the  outraged  feelings  of  this  oppressed  people  were  to 
assert  themselves,  and  they  were  among  the  first  to  join  in 
the  revolution  which  overthrew  Russian  autocracy  in  19 17. 
But  despotism  had  done  its  fearful  work  of  repression  only 
too  well.  Soon  the  proletariat  rose  against  the  bourgeoisie, 
the  Red  Guards  against  the  White.  The  Bolshevists  came 
down  from  Russia.  Blood  flowed  everywhere.  Thousands 
of  the  best  citizens,  including  many  of  the  Lutheran  clergy, 
were  killed  by  the  Reds,  and  panic,  hunger,  and  distress 
reigned  everywhere.  At  length  the  Whites  triumphed,  law 
and  order  reasserted  themselves,  and  a  stable,  popular  govern- 
ment was  established. 

The  literary  output  of  this  journey  to  the  home  of  the 
Vikings  was  a  substantial  volume  entitled  "  The  Charm  of 
Scandinavia,"  written  jointly  by  my  son  Sydney  and  myself  in 
the  form  of  letters  to  "  Judicia  "  at  home,  whose  identity  my 
readers  can  perhaps  guess.  My  son  wrote  of  the  superior 
beauty  and  historic  interest  of  Norway  and  Denmark,  while 
I  claimed  that  Sweden  and  Finland  were  superior  in  these 
respects,  each  trying  to  make  out  the  best  case  possible  for  the 
countries  he  undertook  to  eulogize,  leaving  it  for  Judicia  to 
decide  which  of  us  had  won  his  case.  Her  decision  was  prac- 
tically the  same  as  President  Lincoln's  concerning  the  rival 
claims  of  two  hatters  who  had  each  presented  him  with  a  tile, 
namely,  that  "  they  mutually  surpassed  each  other." 

After  the  meetings  in  the  four  Scandinavias  (for  Finland, 
geologically  at  least,  is  a  part  of  Scandinavia)  were  over,  we 


THE    LAND    OF    THE    MID-DAY    MOON  5OI 

hurried  to  Freiburg  in  Baden  where  Mrs.  Clark  and  our  oldest 
son  and  his  family  awaited  us.  There  we  all  spent  a  happy 
month  together,  and  enjoyed  many  delightful  walks  in  the 
vicinity  of  this  beautiful  university  city  of  the  Black  Forest. 
No  hint  of  war  was  in  the  air.  The  people  seemed  as  peace- 
ful, not  to  say  humdrum,  as  any  in  the  world.  The  only 
suggestion  of  militarism  was  the  number  of  soldiers  upon  the 
streets  and  the  extensive  barracks  in  the  city  and  others  a  mile 
or  two  from  the  university.  A  little  more  than  a  year  later 
Freiburg  was  experiencing  many  of  the  horrors  of  war.  She 
was  bombed  by  the  Allies  over  and  over  again.  Thirty  people 
were  killed,  many  buildings  wrecked,  and  the  people  kept  in 
constant  terror  by  the  hostile  war  planes.  Of  course  many  who 
escaped  instant  death  were  wounded. 

During  our  stay  in  Freiburg  "  Judicia  "  plied  her  busy 
typewriter  at  my  dictation,  and  my  part  of  the  "  Charm  of 
Scandinavia  "  was  largely  .written  there,  though  a  number  of 
chapters  of  the  book  had  already  been  penned  while  travelling 
in  the  northern  countries,  for  American  periodicals. 

A  favorite  morning  walk  before  we  settled  down  to  our 
writing  was  to  the  splendid  old  cathedral  and  the  market 
square  which  surrounded  it.  Every  day  more  or  less  hucksters 
were  found  in  this  square,  but  on  the  regular  market  days  it 
was  filled  from  curb  to  curb.  The  cathedral  itself  is  one  of 
the  most  interesting  in  all  Europe,  the  Gothic  doorway,  often 
crowded  with  children  playing  hide  and  seek,  was  particularly 
interesting,  for  here  much  of  the  history  of  Germany  can  be 
read  in  its  statues  and  tablets.  The  old  gargoyles,  too,  are 
many  and  curious,  some  of  them  decidedly  humorous,  serving 
the  purpose,  it  is  said,  in  the  ancient  days,  of  the  modern 
cartoonist.  An  old  woman  is  represented  in  one  of  the  niches, 
with  her  mouth  open,  and  showing  a  single  tooth.  The 
legend  connected  with  it  is  that  during  the  Lutheran  refor- 
mation the  Protestants  promised  a  husband  to  every  maiden 
lady  who  had  as  much  as  one  tooth  left  in  her  head. 


502  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

After  leaving  Freiburg  we  made  our  way  to  Lugano  in 
Italian  Switzerland,  a  beautiful  little  city  with  its  lovely  green- 
clad  mountains,  which  all  dip  their  feet  in  the  lake.  It  has 
been  more  than  once  a  favorite  Swiss  resort  when  we  could 
allow  ourselves  a  few  days  off  from  our  strenuous  duties. 
During  the  ten  days  that  my  family  spent  in  Lugano  I  took 
a  brief  journey  to  southern  France  to  attend  a  convention  of 
the  Methodist  Endeavorers  who  live  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Cevennes  Mountains.  They  are  largely  of  Huguenot  stock, 
and  a  splendid  lot  of  young  folks  they  seemed  to  be.  Their 
leader,  Rev.  Edmond  Gounelle,  has  no  superior  among  the 
Christian  leaders  of  France. 

The  most  interesting  incident  of  this  convention  to  me  was 
the  excursion  that  we  all  took  to  Aigues  Morts,  the  seaport, 
now  largely  abandoned,  from  which  St.  Louis  sailed  on  his 
crusade  to  the  Holy  Land.  Here  the  Huguenots  suffered 
many  of  their  worst  tortures,  and  we  all  went  with  reverent 
interest  to  the  historic  Tower  of  Constance,  built  on  the 
enormous  wall  that  surrounds  the  city.  Here  in  the  upper 
story  we  traced  with  our  fingers  the  word  "  resistez,"  scratched 
with  a  needle  in  the  stone  floor  by  a  woman  who  was  im- 
prisoned in  this  dark  dungeon  for  thirty-four  years,  from  her 
early  girlhood,  because  her  brother  was  a  Protestant  minister. 
It  was  a  dismal,  cold,  and  rainy  day  when  we  visited  the 
tower,  but  our  hearts  were  warmed  by  the  memories  of  such 
devotion  and  heroism. 

Immediately  after  the  convention  I  joined  my  wife  and  son 
at  Genoa  and  we  sailed  the  next  day  for  home  on  our  old 
friend  the  "  Canopic." 


Chapter    XIJII 
Year    19 14 

A  RECORD  OF  PROVIDENTIAL  DELIVERANCES 

HOW    A     POEM     GLORIFIED    A     CITY PLANS     FOR    A     NEW     ST. 

BARTHOLOMEW'S     DAY HOW    THE     BARCELONA     POLICE 

FRUSTRATED        PLANS A       BOOMERANG A       RUNAWAY 

AUTOMOBILE    IN    LONDON ALMOST    SHIPWRECKED. 


WILL  not  weary  my  readers  with  a  detailed 
story  of  the  year  that  intervened  between 
the  spring  days  of  191 3  and  those  of  that 
momentous  year  in  the  world's  history,  19 14. 
It  was  filled  as  all  my  later  years  have  been 
with  many  journeysj  — a  trip  to  California 
to  attend  the  fine  National  Endeavor  Convention  of  191 3  in 
Los  Angeles,  many  other  journeys  to  smaller  conventions,  and 
in  the  autumn  and  early  winter  some  weeks  in  Italy,  where 
leisure  was  obtained  to  write  a  book  about  "  Our  Italian  Fellow 
Citizens,"  after  learning  what  I  could  on  the  spot  during  this 
and  previous  visits,  about  their  homes,  their  hopes,  and  their 
prospects  in  America,.  This  book,  like  the  one  entitled  "  Old 
Homes  of  New  Americans,"  w^as  written  in  the  hope  that  I 
might  in  some  measure  throw  light  upon  the  immigration 
question,  which  was  then  as  now  looming  large  in  America, 
and  that  I  might,  if  possible,  soften  the  antipathy  with  which 
the  "  Dago  "  is  met  in  some  quarters. 

At  length  we  found  ourselves  on  the  way  to  Barcelona  to 
attend  the  Spanish  Christian  Endeavor  convention,  and  there 
occurred  the  first  of  the  three  adventures  to  be  recorded  in 
this  chapter. 

503 


504  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

On  our  way  we  visited  Carcassonne,  a  place  which  has  prob- 
ably inspired  more  poems  than  any  city  of  modern  times.  It 
is  interesting  to  note  how  a  touch  of  pathos  in  a  single  poem 
will  make  a  city  famous  and  attract  to  it  tens  of  thousands  of 
visitors.  Most  of  my  readers  probably  remember  Nadaud's 
poem,  which  has  been  the  inspirer  of  many  others,  and 
which  has  itself  had  several  different  translations. 

A  poor  peasant  who  lived  within  sight  of  Carcassonne  had 
desired  all  his  life  to  visit  the  city  and  to  see  the  archbishop 
and  the  generals  who  walked  its  streets,  but  his  daily  toil  had 
made  even  that  short  journey  impossible.     His  plaint  was, 

"  My  wife,  our  little  boy  Aignan 
Have  travelled  even  to  Narbonne, 
My  grandchild  has  seen  Perpignan, 
But  I  have  not  seen  Carcassonne! 
I   never  have  seen   Carcassonne! 

A  Stranger  going  by  heard  his  sorrowful  wail  and  told  the 
old  man  that  he  would  take  him  the  next  day  to  Carcassonne: 

"  We   left  next   morning  his  abode, 
But    (Heaven    forgive   him!)    half   way   on 
The   old  man   died   upon   the   road. 
He  never  did  see  Carcassonne. 
Each  mortal  has  his  Carcassonne." 

Many  translations  of  this  poem  have  been  made,  and  other 
poets  have  tried  their  hand  at  telling  the  same  story.  But 
though  the  poem  has  made  the  city  famous,  it  scarcely  needed 
such  literary  embellishment,  for  it  is  the  most  perfect  specimen 
of  a  city  of  feudal  times  to  be  found  in  all  Europe.  Two 
massive  walls  surround  it,  numerous  towers  stand  at  the  angles 
of  the  walls,  from  which  splendid  views  of  the  surrounding 
country  can  be  obtained.  A  modern  hotel,  made  over  from  the 
old  castle,  and  an  ancient  church  stand  at  the  angles  of  the 
walls,  but  the  narrow  hilly  streets  and  mighty  ramparts  have 


A  RECORD  OF  PROVIDENTIAL  DELIVERANCES      5O5 

not  been  altered  in  any  essential  particular  since  the  Middle 
Ages. 

Every  post  card  of  Carcassonne,  and  every  scroll  and 
banner  and  piece  of  china,  which  in  all  the  shops  are  sold  as 
souvenirs,  bear  the  legend, 

"  J\ii  vu  Carcassonne!  " 

The  modern  town  of  Carcassonne  lies  two  or  three  miles 
from  the  city  on  the  hill,  and  derives  its  chief  importance  from 
its  ancient  mother. 

From  Carcassonne  we  went  as  quickly  as  possible  to  Bar- 
celona, for  neither  "  gay  Narbonne,"  nor  Perpignan,  through 
which  we  passed,  detained  us  more  than  a  few  hours.  Cross- 
ing the  Spanish  border  we  soon  came  to  Barcelona,  the  re- 
publican city  of  Spain,  w^hich  always  seems  to  be  seething 
with  new  ideas,  and  always  on  the  edge  of  revolt  from  the 
rule  of  the  more  conservative  Dons.  Perhaps  on  this  account 
the  soil  of  Barcelona  has  proved  especially  fruitful  for  Protes- 
tant ideas,  and  hence  for  the  establishment  of  the  Christian 
Endeavor  movement. 

Here  the  English  Wesleyans  have  long  had  a  strong  hold, 
and  the  American  Congregationalists  have  established  a  fine 
school  for  girls.  Rev.  Franklyn  Smith  of  the  Methodist 
Mission  was  then  (in  19 14)  the  president  of  the  Spanish 
Christian  Endeavor  Union,  and  he  had  resolved,  taking  the 
occasion  of  our  visit,  that  there  should  be  a  great  demonstra- 
tion to  let  the  Catholics  know  that  Protestantism  was  a  live 
issue  and  could  no  longer  keep  its  light  under  a  bushel. 

He  engaged  the  Palace  of  Fine  Arts,  the  largest  and  most 
beautiful  hall  in  the  city,  for  a  Christian  Endeavor  rally.  His 
contract  for  the  hall  was  securely  made  before  the  priests 
woke  up  to  the  significance  of  the  event,  and  Mr.  Smith  soon 
found  that  he  had  stirred  up  a  hornet's  nest.  The  Catholic 
bishop  appealed  to  the  mayor  of  the  city  to  annul  the  contract, 
but  he  would  not  do  it,  declaring  that  the  Protestants  had  as 


506  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

good  a  right  to  the  hall  as  any  one.  Then  the  archbishop  of 
the  diocese  took  a  hand,  and  told  the  governor  of  Catalonia 
that  he  must  not  allow  a  great  Protestant  meeting  in  the  hall, 
but  he  took  the  same  ground  as  the  mayor  of  the  city. 

When  no  legal  means  of  preventing  the  meeting  could  be 
discovered  some  "  lewd  fellows  of  the  baser  sort  "  banded 
themselves  together  to  teach  the  Protestants  such  a  lesson  that 
they  would  never  again  attempt  to  hold  a  great  demonstration 
in  Spain.  These  all,  so  far  as  I  know,  belonged  to  the  Carlist 
party,  who  are  intensely  bigoted  Catholics,  and  ready  to  go 
to  any  length  for  their  church,  even  to  promoting  another  St. 
Bartholomew's  Day.  Their  plan  was  to  gain  entrance  to  the 
hall  with  revolvers  and  other  weapons,  scatter  themselves 
among  the  audience,  and,  at  a  given  signal,  shoot  promiscu- 
ously right  and  left,  perhaps  taking  especially  good  aim  at 
the  leaders  of  the  movement  and  the  speakers  on  the  platform. 
In  the  melee  and  panic  which  would  inevitably  ensue,  they 
expected  to  make  their  escape. 

But  they  reckoned  without  their  host,  and  the  host  in  this 
case  proved  to  be  an  astute  chief  of  police  and  a  faithful  police 
force.  The  chief  got  wind  of  the  plot  and  took  every  pre- 
caution to  foil  it.  For  some  days  before  the  meeting  the  ex- 
citement was  great  throughout  the  city.  Some  particulars  of 
the  proposed  outrage  had  leaked  out,  and  it  was  known  at 
least  that  there  would  probably  be  a  riot  and  promiscuous 
shooting. 

Early  in  the  afternoon  of  that  May  Sunday  in  19 14,  Mrs. 
Clark  and  I  left  the  Girls'  School  at  Sarria,  one  of  the 
suburbs,  where  we  were  staying,  about  live  miles  from  the 
centre  of  the  city.  A  serious  question  arose  whether  the  girls, 
many  of  whom  belonged  to  an  Endeavor  society,  should  be 
allowed  to  go  with  the  pending  prospect  of  a  possible  riot. 
At  last  however  it  was  decided  to  take  the  risk,  and  several 
trolley  cars  were  filled  with  the  teachers  and  the  young  ladies. 

As  we  approached  we  saw  a  great  array  of  policemen  and 


A  RECORD  OF  PROVIDENTIAL  DELIVERANCES      5O7 

gendarmes,  nearly  live  hundred  in  all,  drawn  up  along  the 
streets.  Every  cross  street  within  half  a  mile  of  the  hall  was 
specially  guarded.  Several  policemen  stood  at  the  door  of  the 
hall,  and  searched  every  suspicious  looking  man  who  sought 
entrance,  running  their  hands  over  their  persons  to  see  if  they 
harbored  any  concealed  "  guns."  Forty-eight  murderous 
weapons,  chiefly  pistols,  were  taken  away  from  these  men, 
who  were  herded  together  in  a  little  park  surrounded  by  a 
high  iron-spiked  fence.  Some  twenty  however,  who  were  also 
suspected  of  being  trouble-makers  and  who  were  known  as 
Carlists,  got  within  the  doors.  To  each  of  these  a  policeman 
was  assigned  to  sit  by  his  side  until  the  meeting  was  over.  As 
a  result  of  these  precautions  everything  passed  off  smoothly. 
The  publicity  given  to  the  meeting  by  the  previous  excitement 
attracted  a  tremendous  audience,  and  the  hall  was  crowded. 
Reporters  from  the  leading  papers  of  Spain  were  present,  and 
several  illustrated  magazines  sent  photographers  to  take  flash- 
light pictures  of  the  audience.  There  was  not  a  hitch  in  the 
programme.  A  choir  of  nearly  six  hundred  Junior  Endeav- 
orers  led  the  congregational  singing  in  fine  style,  and  the  hall 
was  ablaze  with  beautiful  banners  brought  in  by  the  different 
societies  of  the  neighborhood.  Some  eloquent  addresses  were 
made  by  Spanish  pastors  and  by  the  missionaries  while  Don 
Carlos  Araujo  admirably  translated  what  I  had  to  say. 

The  meeting  lasted  two  hours  or  more,  and  at  the  close  the 
chief  of  police  waited  at  the  doors  to  see  that  all  was  safe. 
He  was  a  well-known  character  throughout  Spain  who  had 
recently  been  transferred  from  Madrid  to  Barcelona,  because 
of  his  success  in  keeping  a  somewhat  turbulent  populace  in 
order.  When  we  thanked  him  for  the  great  care  he  had 
taken  he  modestly  replied  that  it  was  his  duty  to  protect  any 
law-abiding  citizens  and  secure  to  them  their  rights,  and  he 
was  glad  that  he  had  been  successful  in  this  instance. 

As  we  came  out  we  saw  the  suspects,  whose  weapons  had 
been  taken  away  from  them,  still  herded  together  in  the  little 


508  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

park  under  the  broiling  sun,  the  object  of  the  jeers  of  the 
passers-by.  We  felt  that  in  some  measure  poetic  justice  had 
been  done,  and  though  they  had  not  fallen  into  the  deepest 
part  of  the  pit  which  they  had  digged,  Nemesis  had  in  a 
measure  overtaken  them,  and  that  very  speedily.  The  Chief 
sent  a  small  guard  of  policemen  to  see  us  safely  to  the 
American  school,  our  temporary  home,  and  they  would  not 
leave  us  until  we  were  safe  behind  the  big  iron  gate  which 
enclosed  the  school  compound. 

As  we  heard  the  nightingales  singing  that  night  after  we 
retired  we  could  imagine  that  they  were  adding  their  congratu- 
lations to  the  many  good  things  which  had  been  said  con- 
cerning the  value  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  in 
Spain,  and  the  remarkable  success  of  the  demonstration.  It 
was  said  by  those  who  had  carefully  studied  the  history  of 
the  country,  that  not  since  the  days  of  the  Visigoths,  a  thou- 
sand years  or  more  in  the  past,  had  there  been  such  a  demon- 
stration for  evangelical  religion  in  the  Iberian  Peninsula. 

While  the  meeting  was  going  on  in  the  hall  the  Methodist 
church  over  which  Mr.  Smith  presided  was  set  on  fire,  kero- 
sene having  been  poured  over  the  woodwork,  but  the  fire  was 
put  out  by  friendly  hands  and  little  damage  was  done. 

The  next  morning  the  papers  were  full  of  the  accounts  of 
the  meeting,  not  only  the  journals  of  Barcelona  but  of  all  of 
the  leading  cities.  Most  of  them  denounced  the  intended 
outrage  and  massacre  in  no  measured  terms,  saying  that  it 
was  a  disgrace  to  Spain  that  such  a  thing  could  be  even 
attempted,  comparing  the  plot  to  that  of  St.  Bartholomew's 
Day.  The  illustrated  papers  and  magazines  too  played  up 
the  story  in  great  shape,  and  the  matter  was  afterwards  taken 
up  in  the  Diet  and  discussed  there.  Doubtless  the  Republicans 
and  the  supporters  of  the  present  dynasty  were  not  altogether 
sorry  to  have  something  on  the  Carlists,  or  Jaimists,  as  they 
are  now  called,  since  the  present  Pretender  is  James,  the  son 
of  the  original  claimant  to  the  throne. 


A  RECORD  OF  PROVIDENTIAL  DELIVERANCES      509 

I  would  not  have  it  understood  that  I  believe  that  the 
Catholic  church  or  the  Catholic  people  in  general  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  hatching  this  heinous  plot.  It  was  only  a 
rabid  element  in  the  church  that  was  responsible. 

When  the  story  reached  America,  and  was  printed  in  many 
of  our  papers,  I  was  roundly  denounced  by  The  Pilot  and 
other  Catholic  papers,  as  a  hysterical  alarmist  who  told  all 
sorts  of  lies  to  discredit  the  Catholic  church.  I  could  at  least 
refer  my  critics  to  the  chief  of  police  of  Barcelona  and  to  the 
the  papers  and  magazines  of  Spain  for  confirmation  of  the 
story,  which  they  evidently  did  not  wish  to  believe. 

By  reason  of  this  meeting  and  the  excitement  attending  it 
Christian  Endeavor  was  widely  advertized  as  well  as  the 
Protestant  faith  at  large,  and  the  incident  did  not  a  little,  I 
believe,  towards  promoting  more  liberal  laws  respecting  alien 
faiths  throughout  the  kingdom.  Before  this  no  Portestant 
church  could  have  a  steeple,  or  bear  any  such  ecclesiastical 
sign.  Such  churches  must  be  built  in  back  streets  and  incon- 
spicuous sections.  I  understand  that  these  laws  have  now 
been  largely  abrogated. 

We  afterwards  had  meetings  in  Madrid,  Zaragoza,  Valencia, 
and  Bilbao.  In  all  of  these  places  we  expected  more  or  less 
trouble,  since  the  new^s  of  the  exciting  events  in  Barcelona 
had  preceded  us.  Especially  in  Bilbao  things  looked  serious 
for  a  while.  Since  the  Protestant  chapel  there  was  in  a  con- 
gested slum  of  the  city,  our  friends  did  not  dare  to  open 
the  front  door  of  the  chapel  for  fear  that  rioters  might  surge 
in  and  make  trouble,  but  a  good  audience  made  their  way 
in  by  a  side  door  and  a  back  entrance,  and  no  disturbance 
followed. 

In  Madrid  Bishop  Cabrera,  whose  lamented  death  occurred 
not  long  afterwards,  and  his  son  and  daughter,  especially  Miss 
Pepita  Cabrera,  were  ardent  advocates  of  the  Endeavor  move- 
ment, and  a  delightful  meeting  was  held  in  the  little  cathe- 
dral of  the  Independent  Episcopal  Church.     I  venture  to  say 


510  MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN    IN     MANY    LANDS 

that  it  will  be  a  long  time  before  the  echoes  of  the  Barcelona 
meeting,  and  the  assassination  plot  .will  die  away  in  Spain. 

A  few  days  in  Paris  in  May,  19 14,  so  shortly  before  the 
world  storm  broke  out,  were  as  peaceful  and  uneventful  as 
any  that  I  have  ever  spent  in  the  world's  fashion-capital. 
Who  could  have  dreamed  that  in  a  few  weeks  French  soil 
would  drip  with  blood,  and  Paris  itself  would  be  threatened! 
Two  or  three  meetings  engaged  our  brief  visit  in  the  city,  the 
most  memorable  of  which  was  a  Sabbath  that  we  spent  with 
Rev.  Victor  van  der  Beken  and  his  family  in  a  suburb  of  the 
city.  Mr.  van  der  Beken,  who  early  in  the  war  days,  worn 
out  by  his  work,  died,  greatly  lamented,  was  the  efficient  and 
well-loved  secretary  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  in 
France.  The  society  in  his  own  church  was  the  most  important 
factor  in  the  life  of  his  young  people.  Everything  indeed 
centred  around  it,  and  the  members  of  the  Boy  Scout  troop, 
according  to  their  rules,  must  first  be  active  or  associate  mem- 
bers of  the  society,  thus  linking  the  secular  activity  of  the 
Scouts  with  the  religious  work  of  the  society. 

As  we  came  up  to  the  door  of  the  church,  a  troop  of  Scouts 
saluted  us  and  followed  us  in,  taking  their  places  with  their 
fellow  Endeavorers,  to  whom  Mr.  van  der  Beken's  sermon 
was  chiefly  addressed,  as  many  of  them  were  to  unite  with  the 
church  that  day.  A  number  of  girls  dressed  in  white  were  con- 
firmed and  at  the  same  time  admitted  to  the  society,  to  each 
of  whom,  at  the  pastor's  request,  and  at  the  expense  of  the 
church,  I  presented  a  Christian  Endeavor  badge,  which  in 
France  is  a  C.  A.  monogram,  standing  for  Activite  Chretienne. 
After  the  service  with  the  young  people  of  the  society  and  their 
parents,  we  adjourned  with  the  Endeavorers  to  the  pastor's 
house,  for  lunch. 

We  were  met  at  the  door  by  the  pastor's  little  four-year-old 
son,  who  greeted  us  with  a  smile  and  a  short  address  in  English, 
which  he  had  learned  for  the  occasion,  ,which  was  as  follows: 
"My  dear  friends,  I  am  very  glad  to  see  you,  and  to  eat  with 


A  RECORD  OF  PROVIDENTIAL  DELIVERANCES      5II 

you,  if  you  have  appetite."  These  words  were  pronounced 
very  slowly,  and  carefully,  with  several  halts  to  refresh  his 
memory,  for  this  speech  was  a  great  effort  for  the  little  fellow. 
But  he  did  his  part  well,  and  as  we  did  "  have  appetite  "  we 
cheerfully  ate  with  him  a  very  nice  lunch,  which  the 
Endeavorers  helped  to  serve. 

Soon  after  this  we  left  for  London  by  way  of  Havre  and 
Southampton,  which,  because  of  the  larger  boats  and  the  good 
night's  rest  which  it  insures,  has  become  our  favorite  route. 
The  magnet  which  drew  us  to  London  at  this  time  was  an 
earnest  invitation  to  attend  the  British  National  Christian 
Endeavor  Convention,  which  proved  to  be  a  distinguished 
success.  Such  well-known  English  preachers  as  Dr.  John 
Clifford,  and  Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer  are  warm  advocates  of  the 
movement,  and  are  always  present  at  such  meetings  in  London. 

The  second  of  our  three  providential  escapes  on  this  journey 
occurred  one  black  foggy  night,  as  we  were  returning  to  the 
Thackeray  Hotel  from  a  meeting  in  Dr.  Meyer's  church.  The 
asphalt  roads  were  as  slippery  as  grease,  and,  while  in  the 
middle  of  a  busy  thoroughfare  the  driver  of  the  taxi  lost 
control  of  the  brakes,  and  the  auto  spun  around  in  a  circle  in 
the  midst  of  congested  traffic.  Fortunately  we  hit  neither  the 
curb  nor  any  other  vehicle,  and  the  driver,  trembling  with 
excitement  at  his  narrow  escape  delivered  us  safely  at  the 
hotel,  saying,  "  You  have  never  been  nearer  death  than  you 
were  then,"  while  the  conservative  porter  at  the  door  of  the 
hotel  vowed  that  he  would  never  enter  one  of  those  death- 
traps if  he  had  to  walk  all  the  rest  of  his  life. 

Though  the  convention  was  strictly  British,  it  had  attracted 
Endeavorers  from  several  countries  of  the  Continent,  France 
and  Germany  and  Holland  being  chiefly  represented.  The 
largest  foreign  delegation  came  from  Germany,  and  none 
apparently  enjoyed  it  so  heartily  as  the  five  or  six  stalwart 
young  Teutons. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  scenes  was  at  the  consecration 


512  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN    MANY    LANDS 

meeting  in  Queen's  Hall,  at  which  Dr.  Clifford  preached  the 
sermon.  It  was  a  stirring  discourse  on  the  consecration  of 
life  to  the  highest  ideals  and  to  the  Master  of  us  all.  After 
the  various  delegations  had  spoken  their  word  of  purpose  and 
consecration,  the  young  Germans  stood  together,  and,  while 
each  held  above  his  head  in  one  hand  a  Union  Jack,  and  in  the 
other  the  German  flag,  their  spokesman,  in  accents  broken  by 
emotion,  voiced  the  feelings  of  them  all,  and  their  joy  in  the 
hospitality  they  had  received  and  the  blessed  fellowship  which 
they  had  enjoyed. 

None  spoke  so  feelingly  of  this  fellowship  as  they,  and  yet 
it  was  less  than  six  weeks  from  that  date,  that  war  was 
declared  between  their  native  country  and  the  nation  of  their 
hosts,  and  most  if  not  all  of  these  young  men  were  called 
to  the  colors.  I  have  never  been  able  to  believe  that  they 
cherished  rancor  or  bitterness  in  their  hearts,  nor  do  I  believe 
that  they  ever  sang  a  hymn  of  hate  against  their  English 
friends.  During  all  the  terrible  years  which  followed,  the 
memory  of  that  scene  kept  alive  my  faith  in  Christian  charity 
and  genuine  international  brotherhood. 

Very  soon  after  the  convention  we  sailed  on  the  old  steamer 
"  New   York "   of   the   American   Line,   from   Southampton. 

The  last  third  of  the  voyage  was  through  dense  and  dripping 
fog.  When  about  400  miles  from  New  York,  at  three  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  in  the  proverbially  darkest  hour  before  the 
dawn,  we  were  awakened  by  the  hoarse  bellow  of  two  distinct 
fog-horns,  one  on  our  own  ship,  and  the  other  evidently  on  an 
approaching  vessel.  For  fully  twenty  minutes  the  hoarse 
screamers  answered  one  another  in  this  alarming  antiphonal 
service.  Then  our  ship  slowed  down,  stopped  and  began  to 
back  water.  Surely,  we  said,  these  two  monsters  of  the  deep 
can  escape  each  other.  They  have  the  whole  wide  Atlantic  in 
which  to  pass.  Each  captain  must  know  the  position  of  the 
approaching  ship.  It  cannot  be  that  there  will  be  a  collision 
under  these  circumstances. 


A  RECORD  OF  PROVIDENTIAL  DELIVERANCES      513 

But  the  fog-horn  of  the  other  ship,  which  was  much  louder 
than  our  own,  kept  continually  booming  out  more  and  more 
threateningly.  At  last  we  felt  a  shock,  though  a  comparatively 
slight  one,  and  knew  that  we  had  been  struck,  while  the  vast 
bulk  of  the  other  ship,  twice  as  large  as  ou'r  own,  a  Hamburg 
American  Liner,  scraped  and  scraped  our  bulwarks  fore  and 
aft.  By  this  time  I  had  managed  to  get  on  a  few  garments 
and  rushed  forth  (our  stateroom  was  on  the  upper  deck)  in  time 
to  see  the  whole  length  of  the  leviathan  as  she  slowly  steamed 
by,  ripping  everything  as  she  went.  I  could  easily  have 
jumped  aboard  but  preferred  to  go  to  America  rather  than 
back  to  Europe  and  so  stuck  to  our  own  ship. 

At  first  we  thought  that  the  damage  must  be  trifling,  but  we 
soon  found  that  a  great  hole,  thirty  feet  long  and  fifteen  feet 
deep  had  been  stove  in  our  bowsj  that  some  of  the  sailors' 
rooms  had  been  scooped  out  entirely,  though  fortunately 
none  of  them  .were  in  their  bunks,  and  that  a  huge  anchor 
weighing  five  tons  had  been  ripped  off  the  German  liner 
and  dropped  on  our  deck.  At  once  the  stewards  went  about 
among  the  passengers,  telling  them  to  put  on  their  life  pre- 
servers, though  most  of  us  needed  no  such  admonition. 

After  an  hour  or  so  it  was  decided  that  we  could  probably 
get  into  New  York  under  our  own  steam.  The  other  ship 
went  on  her  way  and  the  "  New  York  "  slowly  nosed  her 
way  through  the  dense  fog  towards  her  American  port.  Had 
she  not  been  an  old-fashioned  ship,  built  like  a  yacht,  curved 
in  on  the  sides,  and  with  an  "  overhang  "  which  took  the  force 
of  the  blo.w  she  would  doubtless  have  gone  to  the  bottom 
almost  instantly.  As  it  was,  a  canvas  was  rigged  over  the 
great  hole,  which,  however,  did  very  little  good.  But  a  kind 
Providence  kept  the  seas  calm,  and,  though  we  had  two  anxious 
nights  and  a  day,  we  reached  port  without  further  adventure. 

A  few  hours  after  the  accident  the  steward  rapped  at  my 
door,  and  handed  in  a  marconigram  from   The  New   York 


514  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

American  J  which  read,  "  Please  wireless  us  three  hundred 
words  about  the  accident."  Scarcely  had  I  fulfilled  this  de- 
mand than  another  message  was  handed  in  from  The  New 
York  Herald,  "Wireless  us  five  hundred  words  about  acci- 
dent." This  kept  me  busy  for  the  rest  of  the  night.  When 
we  reached  the  shore  I  found  that  the  papers  after  interviewing 
some  of  the  passengers  had  greatly  exaggerated  the  "  hero- 
ism "  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Clark  in  calming  the  fears  of  the  pas- 
sengers, a  tribute,  so  far  as  it  was  true,  due  much  more  to  my 
■wife  than  myself. 

The  collision  occurred  Friday  night.  Sunday  morning 
found  us  still  at  sea.  Though  the  officers  of  this  line  had 
little  use  for  Sunday  services,  I  ventured  to  ask  the  captain  if 
he  would  not  like  to  have  a  brief  thanksgiving  service  in  the 
cabin.  He  replied,  "  You  can  have  one  if  you  want  to,  but 
nobody  will  come  to  itj  they'll  all  be  busy  packing  to  go 
ashore." 

However  a  service  was  announced,  and  was  attended  by 
nearly  all  the  passengers,  and  as  we  sang  hymns  of  thanks- 
giving and  voiced  our  gratitude  to  God  in  prayer  and  a  brief 
address,  there  were  many  moist  eyes  even  among  the  stalwart 
men,  and  it  was  deemed  a  most  impressive  service.  Thus,  with 
thanksgiving,  ended  this  chapter  of  accidents  and  narrow  es- 
capes from  death. 


Chapter    XLIV 
Years  1914-1922 

ON  OLD  BEACON  HILL 


boston's       most       interesting       section MASSACHUSETTS 

STATE       HOUSE  THE       AUTHORS*        HILL  PINCKNEY 

STREET THE  WORLd's  CHRISTIAN   ENDEAVOR   BUILDING 


THE       AUTHORS 

MONDAY   CLUB. 


CLUB 


THE       CITY       CLUB 


THE 


^^^^s^^Mm^ 

1 

°T 

■D)- 

)| 

oil  ' 

d 

3 

1 

EACON  HILL  is  by  all  odds  the  most  interest- 
ing section  of  Boston,  It  is  crowned  by 
Massachusetts'  stately  State  House,  which 
still  retains,  as  we  hope  it  always  will,  its 
famous  "  Bulfinch  Front,"  The  streets  from 
there  on  the  western  side  slope  downwards, 
sometimes  abruptly,  to  the  level  of  the  Charles  River,  Every 
street  is  alive  with  memories  of  the  great  statesmen  of  the 
Revolution,  or  of  the  authors  of  more  recent  date,  John 
Hancock,  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  Pinckney,  and  Derne  of  naval 
fame,  are  inseparably  associated  with  this  historic  hill,  which 
received  its  name  from  the  great  beacon  which  in  Revolution- 
ary times  stood  upon  its  summit,  and  from  which  warnings  of 
the  approach  of  the  enemy  might  be  flashed  far  and  wide. 

Especially  has  Beacon  Hill  been  distinguished  as  the  resi- 
dence of  many  of  Boston's  foremost  authors,  among  which  I 
might  mention  Jacob  Abbott,  Louisa  M,  Alcott,  Thomas  Bailey 
Aldrich,  Celia  Thaxter,  John  S.  Hilliard,  Lowell  Mason  (the 
composer  of  sacred  music),  Edwin  P,  Whipple,  Alice  Brown 
(all  on  Pinckney  Street),  and  on  streets  near  by,  Margaret 

515 


5l6  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Deland,  Julia  Ward  Howe,  John  D.  Long,  William  Ellery 
Channing,  Mrs.  A.  D.  T.  Whitney,  William  Dean  Howells, 
John  Lothrop  Motley,  Francis  Parkman,  James  T.  Fields, 
W.  H.  Prescott,  and  others  equally  distinguished.  For  these 
facts  I  am  indebted  to  Dr.  Amos  R.  Wells'  entertaining  book 
about  the  Christian  Endeavor  Building  and  its  surroundings. 

Since  my  boyhood  the  State  House  has  spread  itself  out  in 
every  direction.  I  remember  the  comparatively  modest  build- 
ing, with  its  beautiful  fagade,  up  whose  long  flight  of  steps  I 
used  sometimes  to  climb  with  my  adopted  father  when  he  was 
chaplain  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate.  An  old-timer  would  not 
recognize  it  with  its  extended  marble  wings,  one  on  either  side, 
the  four-fold  development  in  the  rear,  near  which  sits  Gov- 
ernor Banks  clad  all  in  gold.  Here,  too,  General  Devens  ' 
stands  erect  and  commanding  on  his  pedestal,  while  in  front 
stand  Daniel  Webster  and  Fighting  Joe  Hooker. 

Even  now  there  is  not  room  enough  for  all  the  departments 
and  commissions  which  a  modern  State  requires,  and  the 
octopus  is  spreading  its  tentacles  farther  over  the  hill  with 
every  decade.  It  was  thought  at  one  time  that,  as  a  residence 
section,  Beacon  Hill  was  doomed,  that  all  the  old  families  that 
had  given  it  distinction  would  move  out  to  the  Back  Bay,  and 
that  business,  or  an  undesirable  foreign  element  would  engulf 
the  historic  sites.  But  of  late  years  an  almost  unparalleled 
event  in  the  history  of  cities  has  occurred,  and  Beacon  Hill 
is  again  becoming  the  choicest  residence  section  of  Boston,  not 
the  "  swellest,"  or  the  richest,  but  in  many  respects  the  most 
desirable.  Quiet  Mount  Vernon,  Chestnut,  and  Cedar  streets 
are  more  popular  with  a  large  class  of  Bostonians  than  the 
noisy,  dusty  automobile-ridden  districts  of  newer  Boston. 
Lovely  Louisburg  Square  (pronounce  the  "  s  "  if  you  please), 
guarded  at  either  end  by  the  queer  little  statues  of  Columbus 
and  Aristides,  has  all  the  charm  of  an  old-world  residence 
section.  Indeed  this  is  old  for  America,  for  here  one  Black- 
stone  built  the  first  house  in  Boston. 


ON    OLD    BEACON    HILL  517 

Pinckney  Street,  another  of  the  long  thoroughfares  running 
down  to  the  Charles,  does  not  hold  up  its  head  so  high  as  its 
more  aristocratic  neighbors.  Nevertheless  it  has  been  a  famous 
street  in  its  day,  and  has  been  honored  as  the  residence  of  many 
authors  of  renown.  Now  it  is  the  last  street  harboring 
Americans  as  you  look  toward  the  north.  The  descendants  of 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  have  established  themselves  on  all 
the  northern  slope  of  Beacon  Hill,  and  decided,  if  not  very 
outspoken  efforts  are  made  to  keep  them  from  moving  farther 
south,  —  so  far  successfully. 

Pinckney  Street  is  now  largely  given  up  to  rooming-houses, 
and  in  one  or  another  of  these  we  have  found  comfortable 
winter  quarters  for  several  years  past  when  in  America,  and 
since  giving  up  our  home  in  Auburndale. 

Let  me  not  give  the  impression  that  Pinckney  Street  is  to  be 
despised.  Many  delightful  people  find  their  homes  here  for  a 
few  weeks  or  months,  and  it  is  still  the  abode  of  at  least  one 
famous  authoress.  Miss  Alice  Brown,  who  a  few  years  ago 
received  a  ten  thousand  dollar  prize  for  a  play  called  "  The 
Children  of  Earth."  The  Authors'  Club  once  offered  a  prize 
for  the  best  topical  poem,  which,  much  to  her  surprise,  was 
given  to  Mrs.  Clark,  who  describes  in  fanciful  terms  the 
street  which  has  been  our  home  for  parts  of  eight  winters.  I 
will  reproduce  it  here: 

ON    PINCKNEY    STREET 

On  little  old  Pinckney  Street 
The  houses  stand  prim  and  straight; 

With  hearts  all  a-quiver 

They  gaze  toward  the  river 
Like  spinsters  awaiting  their  fate. 

Like  spinsters  awaiting  their  fate, 
Like  spinsters  prim  and  shy, 

They  stand  in  long  rows 

On  their  very  tiptoes, 
And  look  up  into  the  sky. 


51 8  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

On  little  old  Pinckney  Street, 
Those  spinsters  so  old  and  wise 

Wear  brick-red  dresses, 

With  curtains  for  tresses 
And  windows  for  bright  little  eyes. 

With  windows  for  bright  little  eyes. 
Each  window  a  bright  little  eye; 

They  look  over  the  way, 

And  sadly  they  say, 
"  Alas  for  the  days  gone  by!  " 

For  once  on  Pinckney  Street 

They  saw   writers  of   great   renown; 

They  sigh   for  the  past, 

But   they   smile   at  last, 
As  they  think  of  Alice  Brown. 

They  think  of  Alice  Brown, 
And  Alice  Brown  they  greet; 

For  "  The  Children  of  Earth  " 

Right  here   had   their  birth, 
On  little  old   Pinckney  Street. 

But  Beacon  Hill  has  meant  more  to  us  than  scant  quarters 
in  a  roomnig-house,  for  it  has  been  the  home  of  world-wide 
Christian  Endeavor  for  some  nine  years  past.  Here  both 
the  United  Society  and  the  World's  Union  have  their  head- 
quarters, and  here  The  Christian  Endeavor  World  is  pub- 
lished. For  a  number  of  years  the  United  Society  migrated 
from  pillar  to  post,  beginning  with  a  single  desk  in  the  Bible 
Society's  rooms  on  Bromfield  Street.  Thence  it  moved  to 
50  Bromfield  Street,  then  to  646  Washington  Street,  for  larger 
quarters,  then  to  Tremont  Temple,  where  we  occupied  nearly 
a  whole  floor,  and  then  to  3 1  Mt.  Vernon  Street,  under  the 
wing  of  the  State  House.  Here  the  society  bought  five  old 
brick  buildings  on  Mt.  Vernon  and  Hancock  Streets,  which 
they  expected  to  tear  down,  and  to  build  anew  upon  this  eligible 


ON    OLD    BEACON    HILL  ^19 

site.  It  was  decided,  afterwards,  however,  that  a  near-by 
corner,  the  one  on  Mt.  Vernon  and  Joy  Streets,  was  more 
eligible,  and  in  19 17  the  corner  stone  of  the  substantial  and 
appropriate  six-story  office  building  was  laid,  which  proclaims 
by  the  monogram  over  the  doorway,  and  the  inscription  on 
the  corner  stone,  that  it  is  the  World's  Christian  Endeavor 
Building. 

On  this  site  stood  a  mansion  once  occupied  by  a  descendant 
of  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  which  had  to  be  demolished,  and  in 
still  earlier  days  it  was  a  part  of  the  garden  and  nursery 
belonging  to  John  Hancock.  Now  an  obvious  remark  is  that 
it  is  "  a  nursery  for  young  Christians."  Together  with  the 
State  House  it  occupies  the  very  crest  of  Beacon  Hill. 

It  was  dedicated  in  191 8,  with  appropriate  ceremonies,  a 
part  of  which  were  held  upon  the  balustraded  roof,  which  gives 
a  splendid  view  of  the  city  in  every  direction,  since  the  build- 
ing is  on  the  very  peak  of  the  hill.  In  the  vestibule,  in  bronze, 
is  the  following  inscription: 


ERECTED 

TO  THE  GLORY  OF   GOD 

BY  THE  GIFTS  OF  MORE  THAN 

ONE    HUNDRED    THOUSAND 

CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVORERS 

AND    THEIR    FRIENDS 

IN    EVERY    LAND 

AND    DEDICATED 

TO  THE  TRAINING 

OF  YOUNG  PEOPLE 

FOR  THE  SERVICE  OF   CHRIST 

AND   THEIR   FELLOW    MEN 

On  entering  the  handsome  vestibule  the  Memorial  Room, 
to  which  my  colleagues  have  kindly  given  my  name,  is  on  the 


520  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

right-hand  side.  This  is  an  unusually  beautiful  room,  and 
its  glass-covered  alcoves  are  filled  with  banners  and  badges, 
addresses  from  many  countries,  gavels  used  at  various  conven- 
tions, some  thirty  walking-sticks  given  me  in  all  parts  of  the 
world,  and  mementoes  of  various  kinds,  most  of  which  I 
have  collected  during  the  last  thirty-five  years. 

On  the  other  side  is  the  attractive  book  and  salesroom, 
containing  every  kind  of  Christian  literature.  Above,  on  the 
next  floor  are  the  private  offices  of  the  president,  secretaries, 
treasurer,  and  editors.  The  four  upper  stories  are  rented  to 
substantial  publishing  and  other  firms,  one  of  which  for  several 
years  was  The  Atlantic  Monthly ^  before  that  famous  publica- 
tion moved  to  a  home  of  its  own.  The  building  cost  some 
$200,000,  considerably  more  than  it  would  have  cost  if  it 
could  have  been  built  before  the  war  began,  but  only  about 
half  of  what  it  would  have  cost  to  duplicate  it  three  years 
later. 

On  the  whole  we  have  enjoyed  our  winter  home  in  Boston, 
on  Pinckney  Street,  though  we  have  found  it  rather  hard  to  be 
confined  to  one  or  two  rooms,  after  having  spread  ourselves 
out  over  a  large  house.  However,  there  have  been  com- 
pensations. For  instance,  we  have  been  able  to  attend  the 
Friday  meetings  of  the  Boston  Authors'  Club,  where  we  meet 
many  congenial  spirits.  My  colleague  Dr.  Amos  R.  Wells 
has  long  been  a  leading  spirit  in  this  club.  When  I  first  joined 
it,  Julia  Ward  Howe  was  president,  though  she  died  a  few 
months  later. 

She  was  succeeded  by  Major  T.  W.  Higginson,  a  con- 
temporary of  nearly  the  same  age,  and  famous  for  his  anti- 
slavery  zeal  and  co-operation  with  John  Brown  before  the  Civil 
War,  as  well  as  for  his  rare  literary  gifts.  Mrs.  Howe 
lived  to  be  ninety-two  years  old,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  and, 
on  almost  the  last  day  of  her  life,  she  wrote  a  letter  to  the 
managing  editor  of  The  Christian  Endeavor  World.  Her 
hand  was  then  as  firm  and  unshaken  as  that  of  a  young  girl. 


r" 


World's  Christian  Endeavor  Building 
Boston,  Mass. 


ON    OLD    BEACON    HILL  521 

Major  Higginson  was  succeeded  as  president  of  the  Club 
by  the  former  Governor  of  Massachusetts  and  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  John  D.  Long,  a  man  greatly  beloved  and  honored 
in  his  life  and  mourned  in  his  death,  and  he  by  the  eminent 
novelist,  Basil  King,  and  Mr,  King  by  the  present  president. 
Miss  Alice  Brown. 

Those  authors  are  eligible  to  the  club  who  have  published 
at  least  one  bound  volume,  are  recommended  by  two  present 
members  with  formal  letters  stating  their  qualifications,  and 
who  receive  no  adverse  vote.  A  few  years  later,  Mrs.  Clark, 
on  the  strength  of  her  authorship  of  "  The  Gospel  in  Latin 
Lands,"  and  a  volume  on  "  Junior  Endeavor,"  was  invited  to 
join  the  club.  Since  then  she  has  published  another  little  book 
called,  "  Bible  Autobiographies,"  which  has  been  well  received. 
A  "  Daily  Message  "  for  Christian  Endeavorers,  a  birthday 
book  has  had  a  steady  sale  for  many  years. 

We  have  here  enjoyed  the  acquaintance  of  several  well- 
known  .writers,  like  Nixon  Waterman,  the  late  Mrs.  Eleanor 
Porter,  the  beloved  author  of  Pollyanna^  and  many  other 
wonderfully  popular  stories.  Miss  Deland,  Caroline  Atwater 
Mason,  Judge  Grant,  Dennis  McCarthy,  Abbie  Farwell 
Brown,  and  others  too  numerous  to  mention. 

Another  worth-while  club  to  which  I  have  belonged  for 
many  years,  and  to  which  I  have  occasionally  spoken,  is  the 
Twentieth  Century  Club,  which  deals  with  matters  of  national 
and  international  interest,  and  often  secures  brilliant  speakers 
from  outside  of  the  city.  Though  the  club  maintains  many 
departments,  and  cultivates  interest  in  art  and  letters,  the 
chief  interest  to  many  centres  in  the  Saturday  luncheon,  when 
topics  of  the  day  are  freely  discussed,  often  with  much  vigor 
and  spiciness. 

The  Boston  City  Club,  to  which  I  have  also  belonged  for  a 
number  of  years,  is  an  interesting  organization.  It  is  exceed- 
ingly democratic,  has  a  membership  of  many  thousands,  and 
brings  together  people  of  all  races,  religions,  and  occupations, 


522  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

for  friendly  discussions  of  national  and  other  problems.  The 
dining  and  lunch  rooms  are  deservedly  popular,  and  furnish 
good  meals  at  reasonable  prices.  Since  this  great  club  house 
is  near  our  Christian  Endeavor  Building,  together  .with  my 
colleagues  I  often  avail  myself  of  its  gustatory  opportunities. 

While  not  a  club  man  in  the  usual  sense  of  the  word  (though 
I  venture  to  hope  a  clubable  man),  I  have  belonged  to  several 
other  organizations,  like  the  Monday  Club,  and  the  Winthrop 
Club.  The  former  is  made  up  of  a  company  of  a  score  or 
more  of  Congregational  ministers,  now  with  the  lapse  of  years 
mostly  of  a  younger  generation  than  mine,  who  meet  every 
other  Monday  during  nine  months  in  the  year,  for  the  pur- 
poses of  fellowship  and  the  reading  to  each  other  of  sermons 
on  the  Sunday-school  lessons  for  the  following  year.  These 
are  afterwards  published  in  a  volume  called  "  The  Monday 
Club  Sermons."  During  the  last  thirty-live  years  I  have  con- 
tributed in  all  fifty  or  sixty  sermons  to  these  volumes,  but 
have  found  the  special  value  of  the  club  in  the  fellowship  of 
such  men  as  H.  A.  Bridgman,  Albert  E.  Dunning,  the  late 
DeWitt  Clark,  G.  Frederick  Wright,  W.  R.  Campbell, 
Edward  N.  Noyes,  Charles  R.  Brown,  and  others  well-known 
in  Congregational  circles. 

The  Winthrop  Club  meets  less  often,  and  considers  more 
philosophical  themes.  It,  too,  is  made  up  of  ministers  of  the 
vicinity,  and  its  papers  are  usually  weighty  and  stimulating. 


Chapter    XLV 
Year    i  9  i  5 

TYPHOID    FEVER   AND    ITS    COMPENSATIONS 

SOME    PEACE   ORGANIZATIONS A   JOURNEY  THAT  WAS   NEVER 


TAKEN 


SEVENTY-FIVE      DAYS      IN       BED 


DOOR PRESIDENT    WILSONS    LETTERS 

CATHOLIC    FRIEND. 


—  AT      DEATH  S 
AN    UNKNOWN 


HAD  long  been  especially  Interested  in 
questions  of  peace  and  international  friend- 
ship and  good-will.  One  could  scarcely  be 
prominent  in  such  an  organization  as  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  without  constantly  bringing 
such  matters  to  the  fore,  for  ours  is  essen- 
tially a  peace-and-fellowship  society,  based  on  loyalty  to  the 
Prince  of  Peace. 

I  had  long  been  an  honorary  officer  of  the  American  Peace 
Society,  of  the  Massachusetts  Peace  Society,  and  of  one  or 
two  similar  organizations.  When  war  was  threatened,  we  even 
formed  a  Christian  Endeavor  Peace  Society  which  enrolled  a 
multitude  of  members.  Later  it  was  submerged  by  the  clamor 
and  suspicion  of  the  early  days  of  the  war. 

The  most  important  peace  society  with  which  I  have  been 
connected  is  the  "  Church  Peace  Union,"  of  which  I  was  one 
of  the  original  trustees,  and  whose  trustee  meetings  I  always 
attended  when  in  America.  It  was  founded  by  Andrew 
Carnegie  in  19 12  with  a  two  million  dollar  endowment  and 
enrolls  among  its  officers  and  leaders  many  eminent  men. 
Bishop  Grier  was  its  first  president,  and  Dr.  Merrill,  pastor 
of  the  Brick  Church,  of  New  York,  his  worthy  successor.    Such 

523 


524  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

men  as  Charles  E.  Jefferson,  Robert  E.  Spear,  John  R.  Mott, 
Secretary  Brown,  Hamilton  Holt,  and  Bishop  Wilson  are 
among  the  leading  members,  while  Messrs.  Frederick  Lynch, 
and  H.  A,  Atkinson  are  its  efficient  secretaries. 

Out  of  this  organization  has  grown  "  The  World  Alliance 
for  the  Promotion  of  International  Fellowship  through  the 
Churches,"  a  long  name,  but  one  full  of  meaning.  I  am  on 
the  executive  committee  of  this  organization  and  am  also  one 
of  its  international  co'mmittee. 

In  May,  19 15,  I  attended  two  peace  conferences,  one  of 
the  "  League  to  Enforce  Peace,"  in  Cleveland,  in  which  I 
had  been  asked  to  make  an  address,  and  the  other,  the  annual 
and  last  peace  meeting  at  Lake  Mohonk.  Of  the  League  to 
Enforce  Peace  former  President  Taft  was  the  leading  spirit, 
and  for  it  he  worked  incessantly. 

On  my  return  to  Sagamore  I  had  planned,  after  a  week 
of  rest,  to  start  on  June  4  on  a  long  Christian  Endeavor 
journey  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  the  schedule  was  outlined,  and 
arrangements  had  long  been  made  for  large  conventions  in 
Missouri,  Oklahoma,  Texas,  Kansas,  Colorado,  New  Mexico, 
Arizona,  and  California. 

The  railroad  tickets  for  much  of  the  journey  had  been 
bought,  and  the  reservations  on  the  sleeping-cars  made,  when, 
on  the  first  day  of  June,  a  peculiar  lassitude  accompanied  with 
fever  induced  me  to  call  in  the  doctor.  I  said  to  him, 
"Doctor,  I  have  just  four  days  to  spare  before  I  start  on  a 
convention  trip  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  you  must  fix  me 
up  for  it."  He  shook  his  head  knowingly,  but  said  nothing 
until  the  next  day,  when  he  announced  that  the  trouble  was 
typhoid  fever,  and  peremptorily  sent  me  to  bed,  engagements 
or  no  engagements,  a  bed  from  which  I  did  not  rise  for  seventy- 
five  days,  until  on  the  fifteenth  of  September  I  was  allowed 
to  sit  up  for  fifteen  minutes.  The  illness  was  a  painful  one 
and  for  a  long  time  my  life  hung  in  the  balance.  After  the 
fever  had  dragged  its  weary  length  along  for  several  weeks 


TYPHOID    FEVER    AND    ITS    COMPENSATIONS  525 

a  little  rashness  of  diet,  prescribed  by  the  head  nurse,  resulted 
in  a  relapse,  which  very  nearly  prevented  the  rest  of  this 
volume  from  being  written.  However  the  Lord  was  gracious 
and  full  of  compassion,  and  after  three  or  four  months  I 
began  to  feel  like  myself  once  more,  and  to  accumulate  some 
missing  avoirdupois. 

Ye't  there  were  many  compensations,  some  of  which. at  the 
time  I  was  too  near  to  death  to  appreciate.  The  care  of  my 
wife  and  my  children  who  could  be  with  me,  was  constant 
and  unwearied.  Many  kind  friends  expressed  their  solici- 
tude and  in  a  way  that  quite  amazed  me.  About  a  month 
after  the  illness  began  I  was  surprised  to  receive  (unsolicited 
of  course)  the  following  letter  from  President  Wilson,  though 
when  it  came  I  was  too  weak  to  have  it  read  to  me: 

"White  House,  (Cornish,  N.  H.) 

July  4,  1915. 
"  Dear  Dr.  Clark, 

"  I  have  heard  with  the  deepest  distress  of  your  illness. 
I  hope  that  it  will  cheer  you  a  little  to  think  with  what  solici- 
tous affection  we  are  all  hoping  for  your  speedy  recovery.  The 
great  work  you  have  done  in  the  world  has  made  you  a  multi- 
tude of  friends,  and  none  wishes  for  your  welfare  and  recovery 
more  heartily  than  does  your  sincere   friend, 

WooDROw  Wilson." 

As  soo'n  as  I  was  able  I  dictated  a  note  of  thanks  for  his  kind 
remembrance  of  me,  and  at  once  received  the  following  letter 
in  reply: 

"   IHE    WHITE    HOUSE 
"  WASHINCrON 

September   2,    1915- 
"  My  Dear  Dr.  Clark, 

"  Your  letter  of  August  30  brought  me  very  good  news  in 
telling  me  of  your  steady  recovery,  and  I  was  very  much 
touched  that  a  letter  to  me  should  be  one  of  the  first  things 
that  you  thought  of  when  you  were  strong  enough  to  write. 


526  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

"  May  I  not  say  how  glad  I  am  sure  all  Christian  people 
will  be  that  you  should  have  gained  your  health  again,  and 
may  I  not  wish  for  you  a  very  complete  return  of  health  and 
strength  and  many  years  of  continued  great  usefulness? 

"  Cordially  and  Sincerely  Yours, 

"  WooDROW   Wilson. 
"  Rev.  Francis  E.  Clark, 
"  The  Dunes, 
"  Sagamore  Beach,  Mass." 

Many  letters  and  telegrams  from  personal  friends  and 
others  received  during  this  illness  I  collected  in  a  little  scrap- 
book  entitled  "  Rewards  of  Typhoid  Fever,"  for  I  felt  indeed 
that  such  kind,  unexpected,  and  undeserved  letters  made  up 
for  much  suffering  and  weakness.  I  find  letters  in  this  scrap- 
book  from  John  Wanamaker,  from  a  multitude  of  dear  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  friends,  from  prisoners  in  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  State 
Prison,  and  the  Kentucky  penetentiary  in  Frankfort,  the  letter 
representing  the  "  White  Christian  Endeavor  and  Good 
Government  League  of  the  Kentucky  State  Reformatory  "  as 
well  as  a  colored  society  in  the  same  institution. 

One  of  the  letters  that  touched  me  most  deeply  was  from 
Dr.  Albert  J.  Lyman,  pastor  of  the  South  Congregational 
Church  in  Brooklyn,  who  ,was  taken  ill  with  the  same  disease 
on  the  very  same  day  as  myself.  "  From  my  sick  bed,"  he 
wrote,  "  I  send  you  my  loving  remembrance.  You  are  weaker 
than  I,  but  otherwise  our  cases  are  similar.  Dear  man  of  the 
people  and  of  God,  you  will  full  through.  His  smile  is  above 
you,  His  arm  beneath  you."  His  prophecy  of  my  recovery 
proved  true,  but  alas,  he  grew  weaker  as  I  grew  stronger,  and 
he  died  in  the  late  summer.  His  widow  is  a  long-time  friend 
and  former  parishioner  in  South  Boston,  an  eminent  teacher, 
who  carried  on  for  many  years  in  Philadelphia  one  of  the 
most  successful  private  schools  in  America. 

Perhaps  the  letter  that  surprised  me  most  was  from  an 
unknown  friend,  a  Roman  Catholic,  who  gave  no  address,  so 


H 
X 

m 
o 

> 


n 
a: 

t— H 

n 
> 

o 

o 
o 

< 

H 
I— I 

O 


so 


TYPHOID    FEVER    AND    ITS    COMPENSATIONS  529 

that  I  never  could  thank  him  for  his  letter.     It  enclosed  a 
little  picture  of  the  "  Bleeding  Heart  of  Jesus,"  and  he  wrote: 

"  Dear  Sir, 

"  Enclosed  please  find  a  little  heart,  and  won't  you  kindly 
pin  it  on  your  clothing  somewhere  to  honor  Him  who  loves 
men  so  much,  and  Who  is  so  little  loved  in  return.  Please 
do  not  be  displeased  with  me,  but  do  as  I  ask  you,  and  I  can 
assure  you  that  the  sacred  heart  of  Jesus  will  give  you  a  speedy 
recovery.      You  are  sharing  in   my   prayers,   Sir." 

According  to  the  ,wish  of  my  Catholic  friend  the  little  token 
was  pinned  upon  my  nightdress,  for  though  I  had  no  super- 
stitious belief  in  the  charm,  I  felt  a  warm  regard  for  this  un- 
known friend  whom  I  should  never  see,  and  a  sincere  faith 
in  the  efficacy  of  his  prayers. 

During  the  most  critical  days  of  my  illness  the  conventions 
which  I  had  hoped  to  attend  on  the  long  journey  between  the 
oceans  were  going  on,  and  the  most  hopeless  days  of  all  were 
passed  while  many  thousand  Endeavorers  were  meeting  for 
the  World's  Convention  in  Chicago,  in  the  great  colosseum, 
made  famous  by  so  many  national  political  conventions.  Tele- 
grams came  every  day  from  the  convention,  asking  for  news 
and  assuring  my  faithful  watchers  of  the  constant  prayers  of 
the  convention,  messages  of  which  I  could  not  even  be  told  at 
the  time. 

I  trust  I  shall  be  pardoned  for  quoting  from  the  letters 
of  these  known  and  unknown  friends,  and  for  adding  further 
an  editorial  note  from  The  Continent,  the  leading  national 
Presbyterian  journal.     It  was  published  in  October,  191 6. 

"  An  immediate  personal  mercy  to  themselves,  multitudes 
in  this  and  other  countries  will  deem  the  good  providence  of 
God  which  has  granted  recovery  to  Dr.  Francis  E.  Clark  from 
the  grievous  siege  of  illness  which  he  has  undergone  this 
summer.  Typhoid  fever  in  a  man's  sixty-fourth  year  is  in 
the  best  circumstances  a  perilous  episode,  and  anxiety  was  in- 


530  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

creased  in  Dr.  Clark's  case  when  the  normal  course  of  the 
disease  was  lengthened  by  relapse.  But  a  constitution  which 
no  indulgence  of  appetite  or  recklessness  of  habit  had  ever 
vitiated  was  the  solid  foundation  on  which  the  good  Lord  was 
pleased  to  lift  up  His  servant's  life  again,  and  so  the  world 
is  still  to  have  the  light  of  Dr.  Clark's  example  and  teaching 
for  added  years  to  come.  If  the  question  were  on  identifying 
the  best-loved  man  alive  to-day  in  the  universal  church,  Roman 
Catholics,  of  course,  would  feel  obliged  to  vote  for  the  pope; 
but  among  the  free  churches  there's  no  film  of  doubt  that  the 
majority  would  go  heavy  for  Christian  Endeavor's  admired 
founder  and  leader.  And  the  happy  thing  for  those  to  testify 
who  know  him  individually  is  that  in  a  beautiful  harmony  of 
Christlike  gentleness  and  Christlike  strength  he  thoroughly  de- 
serves all  the  love  millions  of  young  people  and  old  have 
lavished  on  him." 

It  makes  me  blush  to  copy  such  undeserved  praise,  but, 
in  after  years,  my  children  and  perhaps  some  Endeavorers 
may  like  to  read  what  one  friendly  editor  found  it  in  his  heart 
to  write. 


o 
o 


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.-4 

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n 
o 

2; 

H 
O 


Chapter    XLVI 
Years    19 15-19  i6 

A    WINTER    IN    HONOLULU 


"  BEHIND  THE  VEIL  " 


COME  - 
JAPAN. 


-  BEAUTIFUL   HONOLULU  OUR  WEL- 

OUR      HOSTS A      HAPPY      WINTER OFF      FOR 


CONTINUED  to  improve  throughout  the 
early  fall,  but  was  still  far  from  strong 
and  was  frequently  warned  of  the  insidious 
effects  of  typhoid  fever,  and  that  the  after- 
math was  often  worse  than  the  original 
disease,  as  indeed  it  afterwards  proved  to  be 
in  my  own  case.  We  resolved,  therefore,  to  spend  a  few 
weeks  in  charming  Honolulu  and  then,  if  health  and  strength 
should  permit,  to  go  on  to  the  Orient  to  attend  conventions 
in  Japan  and  China,  to  which  I  had  been  invited. 

There  were  more  or  less  impromptu  Christian  Endeavor 
meetings  in  Sacramento  and  San  Francisco,  when  Endeavorers 
learned  that  I  was  there,  though  I  had  meant  to  slip  quietly 
out  of  the  country  without  any  engagements  of  any  kind,  as  my 
health  was  far  from  established. 

The  Endeavorers  of  Oakland  and  San  Francisco  were  most 
kind,  arranging  a  banquet  for  us  with  the  leaders  of  the 
movement,  taking  us  to  the  great  World's  Fair,  then  in 
progress,  where  the  Exposition  grounds  in  the  evening  were 
such  a  blaze  of  light  and  color  as  the  world  had  never  seen 
before,  but  my  health  and  my  wife's  solicitude  prevented  me 
from  enjoying  these  glories  for  more  than  a  few  moments. 
Soon  we  were  upon  the  Pacific  once  more  in  a  comfortable 

533 


534  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

Stateroom  of  the  "  Matsonia "  with  five  days  of  peaceful 
voyaging  before  us.  Though  I  was  up  to  very  little  physical 
exertion  I  could  use  my  pen  once  more,  and  kept  up  my 
weekly  articles  for  The  Christian  Endeavor  World,  and  while 
on  this  steamer  wrote  my  first  and  only  story,  entitled  "  Both 
Sides  of  the  Veil,"  describing  the  supposed  experiences  of  two 
members  of  a  family  of  five  who  had  been  killed  in  an  auto- 
mobile accident  and  suddenly  found  themselves  on  the  other 
side  of  the  "  great-divide."  I  attempted  to  show  how  they 
might  influence  for  good  the  remaining  members  of  the  family, 
the  father,  son,  and  daughter,  keeping  them  from  evil  ways, 
and  suggesting  good  thoughts  and  deeds,  though  the  earthly 
members  of  the  family  never  realized  their  presence.  It  was 
meant  as  a  counter  blast  to  the  crude  spiritualism  of  the  day, 
and  to  show  that  it  was  not  necessary  to  consult  mediums  or  to 
see  ghosts  in  order  to  receive  impressions  from  beloved  ones 
who  had  "  entered  in  behind  the  veil." 

This  short  story  of  four  chapters  was  published  a  year  or 
two  later  in  The  Christian  Endeavor  World,  and  while  I  re- 
ceived enthusiastic  commendations  for  it  and  assurances  that 
it  had  helped  many  of  my  correspondents,  a  few  others  per- 
ceived in  it  dangerous  spiritualistic  tendencies.  One  good 
ministerial  brother  denounced  its  author  as  an  emissary  of 
Satan,  who  was  leading  the  young  people  of  the  world  astray, 
not  perceiving  that  the  object  of  the  book  was  to  counteract 
what  both  he  and  I  regarded  as  the  most  insidious  form  of 
spiritualism.  If  we  believe  that  there  is  a  future  life,  and 
that  our  friends  are  somewhere  on  the  farther  shore,  conscious 
of  our  trials  and  loving  us  still,  why  should  it  be  thought  a 
thing  incredible  that  they  should  be  allowed  to  influence  us  in 
conscious  or  sub-conscious  ways?  If  that  be  heresy,  dear 
brethren,  make  the  most  of  it! 

Early  in  November  we  reached  Honolulu,  where  I  had  been 
several  times  before,  but  never  for  so  long  a  stay.  If  there 
is  one  city  in  the  world  more  inviting  than  Honolulu  to  a  semi- 


A    WINTER    IN     HONOLULU 


535 


invalid,  or  to  one  tired  in  body  and  soul,  I  do  not  know  where 
it  is.  The  soft  and  balmy  climate  where  the  mercury  climbs 
to  the  eighty  degree  mark  at  noon  almost  every  day  winter 
and  summer,  and  seldom  goes  beyond  it,  the  tempering  breezes 
always  blowing  from  the  all-embracing  seaj  the  tropical  vege- 
tation, ever  green  from  almost  daily  showers,  and  ever  in 
bloom 5  the  hill  resorts  within  a  fifteen-minute  ride  by  auto- 
mobile when  one  is  surfeited  with  the  sea  3  the  many  races 
living  together  in  harmony,  with  their  varied  and  colorful 
costumes  j  and,  above  all,  the  extraordinary  hospitality  of  the 


A  Street  in  Honolulu 

people,  leave  nothing  to  be  desired.  Yet,  less  than  a  hundred 
years  ago,  the  site  of  Honolulu  was  a  barren,  wind-swept  plain, 
the  red  dust  flew  in  clouds  along  the  primitive  paths  lined  with 
the  grass  houses  of  the  natives.  Where  charming  residences, 
many  of  them  palatial  in  size  and  architecture,  stately  churches, 
public  buildings,  and  splendid  school  and  college  buildings 
now  stand,  were  the  rude  dwellings  and  the  crude  agriculture 
of  the  native  Hawaiian. 

Three  generations  of  missionaries  and  their  descendants 
have  changed  all  this  and  literally  have  made  the  island  of 
Oahu  and  the  neighboring  isles  to  blossom  like  the  rose.     In- 


536  MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

Stead  of  the  thorn  has  come  up  the  palm  tree,  and  instead  of 
the  briar  has  come  up  the  Poinsettias,  and  surely  they  are  to 
the  Lord  for  "  a  sign  "  of  what  faithful  Christian  men  and 
women  can  do,  for  the  material  as  well  as  the  spiritual  welfare 
of  a  country.  Not  one  of  the  beautiful  palms  and  flowering 
trees  and  glorious  shrubs  with  possibly  one  or  two  exceptions, 
were  natives  of  Hawaii.  They  have  all  been  imported,  and 
have  flourished  in  their  new  habitat  as  never  before.  It  is 
true  that  the  native  inhabitants  of  the  island  have  dwindled, 
but  that  was  inevitable,  owing  to  their  contact  with  the  vices 
of  civilization,  rum  and  lust. 

The  Hawaiians  have  always  lived  on  the  best  terms  with 
the  missionaries  who  came  to  uplift  them.  The  condition  of 
the  remnant  is  far  better  than  if  it  had  not  come  under  mis- 
sionary influence.  The  native  Hawaiian  blood  flows  in  the 
veins  of  some  of  the  leading  families. 

The  result  of  the  mixture  of  the  races  has  never  been  so 
completely  demonstrated  as  in  Hawaii.  For  the  most  part  it 
seems  to  justify  the  claims  that  mixed  races  are  sometimes 
the  strongest.  In  Kawaihao  Seminary  for  girls  there  are  some 
twenty  races  and  cross  races  represented.  The  Hawaiian- 
Chinese  combination  seems  to  be  particularly  happy  j  the 
children  often  retaining  the  best  qualities  of  both  races.  The 
superintendent  of  Christian  Endeavor  societies  of  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,  Mr.  Akana,  is  certainly  one  of  the  finest  looking  men 
to  be  found  in  Honolulu  or  any  other  city.  His  mother  was 
Hawaiian  and  his  father  Chinese.  Besides  Chinese  and 
Hawaiians,  there  are  Japanese,  nearly  I00,000  of  them,  the 
leading  element  in  the  population,  Portuguese,  Koreans, 
Spanish,  Italians,  Filipinos,  and  a  comparatively  few  full- 
blooded  Americans,  largely  the  descendants  of  the  missionary 
families. 

At  the  union  meeting  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  societies 
the  groups  are  usually  arranged  according  to  races  represented, 
and   messages  at  the  consecration   meetings  are  given  in  the 


A    WINTER     IN     HONOI-ULU  537 

languages  of  all  the  countries  mentioned,  and  all  with  eciual 
fervor  and  sincerity. 

To  return  to  the  day  of  our  arri\al  in  this  earthly  Paradise  — 
we  were  met  at  the  wharf  by  Mr.  Theodore  Richards,  the 
treasurer  of  the  Hawaiian  missionary  society,  whose  wife  is  a 
descendant  of  one  of  the  earliest  missionary  families.  He 
took  us  to  his-  delightful  home  and  insisted  on  our  staying 
until  we  could  establish  ourselves,  which  we  soon  did,  in  the 
Royal  Hawaiian  Hotel,  with  a  room  and  a  Lanai  looking  out 
on  a  charming  courtyard,  while  a  big  royal  palm,  towering 
over  it,  provided  grateful  shade.  We  took  our  meals  at 
different  restaurants  and  have  seldom  found  an  abiding-place 
away  from  home  more  entirely  satisfactory.  This  was  espe- 
cially true  of  our  rooms,  which  were  large  and  airy,  with 
many  windows  but  no  glass,  for  wire  netting  alone  is  necessary 
in  this  elysium. 

We  had  enough  writing  to  keep  us  moderately  busy,  for  I 
cannot  conceive  of  any  enjoyment  in  a  holiday  with  no  employ- 
ment. Even  if  Satan  finds  no  mischief  still  for  idle  hands 
to  do,  idle  hands  are  the  most  wearisome  and  unhappy  of  all. 
We  had  before  this  made  a  number  of  acquaintances  in  Hono- 
lulu, and  our  acquaintance  with  them  ripened  into  friendship 
during  our  three  months  on  the  island.  The  Athertons,  the 
Judds,  the  Dickeys,  the  Waterhouses,  the  Damons,  the 
Gulicks,  the  Hitchcocks,  and  others,  many  of  w^hom  were  de- 
scendants of  the  missionaries,  always  opened  wide  their  hos- 
pitable doors.  After  a  few^  weeks  Mrs.  J.  B.  Atherton 
insisted  on  our  leaving  our  hotel  and  making  her  lovely  home 
on  College  Hill  our  own.  Her  automobile  with  a  little 
Japanese  chauffeur  whom  American  girls  would  have  called 
"  very  cute  "  was  at  our  disposal,  and  in  our  great  breezy 
room  some  of  the  earlier  chapters  of  this  autobiography  were 
written. 

In  order  to  enjoy  the  change  to  country  life  we  spent  a 
week   or   two   at    Kahala,   five   miles   from   the   city,   in    the 


538 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 


cottage  of  Mrs.  Waterhouse,  and  though  it  rained  almost  in- 
cessantly, and  a  devastating  "  Kona  "  swept  over  the  island 
while  we  were  there,  yet  we  enjoyed  the  outing,  and  especially 
the  sea  bathing,  for  the  waters  around  Hawaii  are  as  mild 
and  delicious  as  the  air.  An  outer  reef  keeps  the  sharks  from 
Kahala  Bay,  and  the  only  drawback  to  bathing  is  the  sharp 
coral  which  covers  the  sand  under  the  shallow  water.  In  some 
places  this  has  been  dredged  away.    An  interesting  feature  of 


Representatives  of  Twenty-Six  Races  and  Cross  Races 

In  the  famous  school  in  Honolulu. 

• 

Kahala  was  the  native  fishermen  with  their  long  spears,  wading 
through  the  shallow  water  in  search  of  their  prey.  Especially 
at  night,  the  twinkling  bobbing  lights  which  they  carried  to 
attract  the  fish  added  an  especially  picturesque  feature  to  the 
view  from  our  cabin  on  the  shore. 

The  great  church  of  Honolulu  is  the  Central  Union  Church, 
practically,  though  not  nominally  Congregational.  This  is, 
one  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  generous  churches  in  the  de- 
nomination, and  its  leading  members  for  the  most  part  belong 


A    WINTER    IN    HONOLULU  539 

to  the  old  missionary  families.  Its  annual  benevolences 
amount  to  some  fifty  thousand  dollars  and  its  activities  for 
the  many  races  of  Honolulu  and  for  the  other  islands  of  the 
group  are  numerous.  The  Episcopalians  have  a  beautiful 
church  and  group  of  church  buildings  and  a  very  considerable 
following,  while  the  Methodists,  Baptists,  and  Disciples  of 
Christ  also  have  good  churches  and  congregations.  The  Portu- 
guese, Chinese,  Japanese,  and  of  course  the  native  Hawaiians 
have  vigorous  evangelical  churches  of  their  own,  largely 
helped  by  the  workers  and  the  money  of  the  Central  Union 
Church. 

A  favorite  excursion  of  mine  after  the  day's  writing  was 
done,  on  these  beautiful  afternoons,  was  to  the  Waikiki  Beach, 
three  or  four  miles  from  the  city,  for  a  plunge  in  the  mild  but 
tonicky  waters  of  the  Pacific,  or  for  a  visit  to  the  most  wonder- 
ful aquarium  in  the  world,  where  fishes  of  incredibly  brilliant 
hues,  dyed  with  far  more  colors  and  shades  than  any  rainbow 
ever  boasted,  disport  themselves  in  the  glass  tanks,  and  seem 
often  to  pose  for  the  benefit  of  visitors.  The  far-famed 
aquarium  at  Naples,  which  every  orthodox  traveller  who 
visits  Italy  is  supposed  to  see,  cannot  for  a  moment  compare 
with  the  exhibition  fish  of  Honolulu,  either  in  brilliancy  of 
coloring,  oddity  of  shape,  or  in  the  happy  arrangement  of 
the  aquarium. 

My  health  constantly,  though  slowly  improved,  and  early 
in  February  I  felt  that  I  could  again  take  up  my  life-work 
in  the  interests  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  cause  in  other  lands. 
Various  meetings  had  been  arranged  for  me  in  Japan,  Korea, 
and  China,  and  I  especially  hoped  to  be  able  to  attend  the 
All-China  Convention,  to  be  held  in  Hangchow  in  April.  I 
realized  afterwards  how  rash  was  this  undertaking. 

We  bade  goodby  to  our  kind  hostess,  Mrs.  Atherton,  who 
has  recently  gone  to  her  exceedingly  great  reward,  to  the 
Richards  family,  who  had  done  so  much  for  our  comfort, 
and  to  many  other  friends,  and  boarded  the  "  Shinyo  Maru  " 


540  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

of  the  Nippon  Yusen  Kaisha  Line,  a  fine  steamer  of  ten  or 
twelve  thousand  tons.  Except  for  the  captain  this  steamer 
was  thoroughly  Japanese  in  its  personnel,  though  built  chiefly 
with  an  eye  to  the  patronage  of  foreigners. 

What  awaited  us  on  the  other  side  of  the  Pacific  must  be 
reserved  for  another  chapter. 


Chapter    XLVII 
Year  1916 

JAPAN    IN    19 16 


POLITE     REPORTERS A     LIGHT      (?)      SCHEDULE EMINENT 

EDITORS  - 

PALACE  A 

OUR 


A     NOBLEMAN  S     MEMORIES     OF     AMERICA 

COUNT    okuma's    cordiality  —  asana's 

.J 


PEACE  BANQUET 
(C 


THE     LATE     EMPERORS    TOMB 


JAPANESE  "  DAUGHTER 

I'TER  a  dozen  days  and  nights  on  the  "  Shinyo 
Maru,"  the  snow-capped  peak  of  beautiful 
Fuji  loomed  in  sight  and  we  soon  found 
ourselves  made  fast  to  the  pier  at  Yokohama. 
I  did  not  know  that  I  was  expected  except 
by  the  Endeavorers  and  some  missionary 
friends,  and  was  surprised  to  have  six  polite  reporters  from 
different  daily  papers,  with  notebook  and  camera,  waiting  on 
the  dock  for  us.  Indeed  they  scrambled  aboard  the  steamer 
and  insisted,  though  in  a  most  polite  way,  on  having  an  inter- 
view and  some  pictures  before  we  could  go  ashore  and  greet 
our  friends. 

Be  it  understood,  however,  that  they  were  no  rough  and 
ready  wielders  of  the  pen,  or  scribblers  just  out  of  high  school, 
like  some  of  the  American  reporters  I  have  seen,  but  suave 
and  courteous  to  the  last  degree,  like  all  their  countrymen. 
Bowing  low,  with  many  apologies,  they  prayed  that  the  honor- 
able passenger  would  retire  with  them  to  a  quiet  part  of  the 
deck,  where  his  honorable  face  might  be  exposed  to  their 
worthless  camera,  and  his  gracious  words  be  recorded  in  their 
poor  notebooks. 

S4I 


542  MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

Who  could  resist  such  cheerful  and  courteous  pertinacity, 
and  when  the  next  day  some  of  their  reports  were  translated 
for  me  I  mentally  thanked  the  Lord  that  they  were  not  as 
some  other  reporters  whom  I  had  known,  or  even  as  certain 
editors,  for  they  gave  the  substance  of  what  I  had  said 
accurately  and  dressed  it  up  with  generous  sentiments  of  their 
own. 

In  contrast  with  this,  I  remember  an  American  reporter  who 
has  more  recently  sought  an  interview.  In  this  he  told  his 
readers  very  little  of  what  I  had  said  with  accuracy,  but  de- 
voted a  column  to  my  personal  appearance,  and  in  staring 
head-lines  gave  this  information: 

"  DR.  CLARK  WEARS  A  GRAY  SUIT.  HE  BUT- 
TONS HIS  COLLAR  IN  FRONT.  HE  HAS  A 
PLEASANT  SMILE.  HE  IS  SOMEWHAT  BALD, 
BUT  HAS  GRAY  HAIR." 

The  Japanese  press  doubtless  has  many  faults  and  perhaps 
is  no  more  accurate,  and  just  as  biassed  as  our  own,  but  it  does 
not  often  deal  in  such  trivialities. 

Not  feeling  over  strong,  I  had  urged  the  committee  of 
arrangements  for  my  meetings  to  give  me  a  light  schedule  of 
work  while  in  Japan,  and  I  have  no  doubt  they  intended  to 
do  so,  but  one  engagement  led  to  another,  and  that  often  to  a 
third  which  seemed  inevitable,  and  my  days  in  Japan  were 
far  more  full  of  toil  than  they  should  have  been,  as  the  sequel 
of  this  visit  will  show. 

The  chief  meetings  were  held  in  Tokyo,  Kyoto,  Kobe, 
Nagoya,  Shimonozeki,  and  Moji,  while  the  annual  National 
Convention  of  the  Endeavorers  was  held  in  Osaka.  In  each 
of  these  cities  several  addresses,  receptions,  etc.,  were  expected 
and  Mrs.  Clark  did  her  full  share  in  talking  to  the  women's 
meetings  and  to  the  Juniors,  in  audiences  that  were  quite  as 
large  as  those  that  brought  the  older  young  people  together. 
I  was  particularly  interested  at  one  of  the  meetings,  I  think 


JAPAN     IN     I916  543 

in  Osaka,  to  see  three  Buddhist  monks  in  the  audience,  who 
apparently  listened  with  the  greatest  interest,  and  afterward 
came  forward  and  asked  some  questions  concerning  the  work 
of  which  I  had  been  speaking. 

My  interpreter  for  most  of  these  meetings  was  Rev.  T. 
Sawaya,  the  able  secretary  of  the  Japanese  Christian  Endeavor 
Union.  No  one  ever  had  a  better  interpreter,  for  he  knew 
English  as  well  as  Japanese,  and  had  picturesque  ways  of 
explaining  what  otherwise  might  be  obscure  to  the  audience. 


Christian  Endeavor  Seaman's  Home  Nagasaki,  Japan 
Now  given  over  to  local  authorities. 

I  always  felt  that  however  dull  I  might  be,  my  hearers  would 
be  instructed  and  entertained.  Mr.  Sawaya,  too,  is  a  born  actor, 
and  when  telling  a  Bible  story  or  an  incident  that  had  any 
dramatic  possibilities,  he  would  so  act  it  out  that  even  the 
youngest  children  would  be  spellbound  by  his  address. 

I  had  the  privilege  also  of  preaching  or  speaking  to  the 
missionaries  in  my  own  native  American  tongue  in  several 
of  the  cities  of"  the  empire.  Not  especially  because  of  my 
visit,  but  because  of  the  renewed  activities  and  vigor  of  the 
leaders,  the  Endeavor  movement  took  a  new  start  from  the 


544  MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN    IM     MANY    LANDS 

convention  at  Osaka.  The  slogan  of  that  meeting  was 
"  Double  Your  Numbers!  "  and  within  a  year  the  doubling  up 
process  had  actually  been  accomplished.  Twice  as  many  live 
societies  were  recorded  as  had  previously  existed,  and  the  next 
year  the  gain  in  numbers  was  still  further  increased.  It  was 
a  gratifying  fact,  too,  that  the  societies  in  the  American  Metho- 
dist Mission  predominated  over  all  the  others,  showing  that 
Christian  Endeavor,  if  allowed  to  exist,  is  as  good  for  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  as  for  any  other. 

While  in  Tokyo  for  nearly  a  week  we  were  the  guests  of 
my  friend  and  college  classmate  Dr.  and  Mrs.  James  H. 
Pettee,  whose  guests  we  had  previously  been  when  he  was 
living  in  Okayama,  and  whose  daughters  had  often  lived  in 
our  family  in  Auburndale,  almost  as  daughters  of  our  own. 
Dr.  Pettee  had  recently  removed  to  Tokyo  to  be  in  a  sense 
the  Dean  of  the  Congregational  missionaries,  and  had  charge 
in  an  unofficial  way  of  their  national  interests,  since  he  had 
been  upon  the  field  for  nearly  forty  years.  This  gave  him 
access  to  many  of  the  leading  men  of  the  empire,  and  he 
kindly  took  occasion  to  introduce  me  to  several  of  the  makers 
of  modern  Japan,  whom  he  knew.  Among  others  we  called 
on  two  or  three  of  the  leading  editors  of  great  daily  papers, 
which  had  a  circulation  in  the  hundreds  of  thousands.  One 
of  these,  Mr.  Tokutomi,.we  afterwards  met  again  in  Seoul, 
where  he  is  also  the  proprietor  of  a  leading  Japanese  paper. 
He  was  a  most  agreeable  man,  talked  freely  about  affairs  in 
Japan  and  America,  insisted  on  serving  us  tea  and  cakes,  and 
on  having  our  pictures  taken  with  him  and  his  managing  editor 
around  the  tea  table,  a  gustatory  courtesy  which  has  never  been 
accorded  to  me  by  an  American  editor. 

A  well-known  Japanese  nobleman  who  received  us  most 
graciously,  and  ,who  spoke  English  with  fluency  and  precision, 
had  been  educated  in  part  in  the  Rice  Gramrtiar  School  and 
the  Latin  High  School  of  Boston,  and  had  attended  Harvard 
College.     He  told  me  of  one  thing  that  struck  him  as  peculiar. 


JAPAN     IN     1 916  54.5 

—  namely,  that  every  American  household  that  he  visited  with 
his  schoolmates  had  family  prayers  in  the  morning.  He  did 
not  know  how  to  behave  at  first,  but  when  he  saw  that  all 
dropped  upon  their  knees  and  buried  their  faces  in  the  seat  of 
the  chair,  he  did  the  same,  and  soon  learned  the  significance  of 
the  religious  ceremony.  1  wonder  if  his  experience  would  be 
the  same  should  he  visit  America  to-ciay. 

He  also  said  that  during  all  the  years  since  his  return  to 
Japan  he  had  been  trying  to  interpret  the  American  people  to 
the  Japanese,  but  found  it  a  difficult  task.  They  could  not 
understand  the  inter-relation  of  our  National  and  State  govern- 
ments j  how  California  could  be  so  bitterly  hostile  to  the 
Japanese  while  the  rest  of  the  country  was  friendly  j  or  how 
discrimination  against  his  countrymen  was  allowed  on  the 
Pacific  Coast  and  not  upon  the  Atlantic.  I  do  not  wonder 
that  he  was  puzzled  to  explain  these  matters. 

We  again  called  upon  Count  Okuma,  and  for  the  third  time 
he  received  us  in  his  beautiful  villa  as  graciously  as  ever, 
and  recalled  several  instances  of  our  former  visits.  The  Count 
was  at  this  time  the  Premier  of  Japan,  and  had,  when  we 
called,  just  returned  from  a  tussle  with  the  opposition  in 
Parliament,  a  struggle  in  which  we  learned,  from  the  next 
morning's  papers,  he  had  come  off  victorious  as  usual.  This 
was  the  closing  session  of  .parliament  for  the  season,  and  he 
was  in  high  feather,  and  full  of  good  humor,  keeping  the  con- 
versation in  his  own  hands,  in  a  most  voluble  manner,  as  was 
his  wont.  Before  we  left  he  gave  us  a  letter  of  introduction 
to  Count  Terauchi,  the  Governor-General  of  Korea,  whither 
we  were  intending  to  go.  Terauchi  was  destined  within  a  few 
months  to  succeed  Okuma  as  Premier  of  the  Empire.  Count 
Okuma  was  in  European  evening  dress,  and  he  received  us  as 
before  in  the  European  part  of  his  beautiful  home,  where  a 
bright  fire  blazed  upon  the  hearth,  and  modern  paintings 
hung  upon  the  walls. 

The    Count    was    especially    friendly    in    his    allusions    to 


546  MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

America,  and  in  spite  of  certain  utterances  of  which  our  jingo 
papers  have  made  the  most,  I  believe  he  was  absolutely  sin- 
cere in  his  frequent  protestations  of  a  desire  for  friendly 
relations  between  Japan  and  America.  As  we  were  leaving, 
he  took  a  lovely  bouquet  of  orchids  from  a  vase  upon  the 
mantel-shelf,  and  sent  them  with  his  compliments  to  Mrs. 
Clark. 

This  visit  occurred  not  long  after  the  coronation  of  the 
young  Emperor,  and  post  cards  and  illustrated  booklets  and 
"  furoshukis "  all  over  the  empire  were  emblazoned  with 
pictures  of  Count  Okuma  toiling  up  the  steps  of  the  imperial 
palace  in  Kyoto  upon  his  knees  to  do  homage  as  premier,  in 
the  name  of  the  people  of  Japan,  to  the  new  Emperor.  It 
was  said  that  the  stump  of  his  leg,  which  had  been  shot  off  at 
the  knee  by  an  assassin  many  years  before,  was  raw  and  bloody 
before  he  reached  the  top  of  the  stairs,  but,  old  man  though 
he  was,  well  along  in  the  seventies,  he  pluckily  went  through 
with  the  ceremony,  while  the  people  proclaimed  him  with 
cheers  as  second  only  to  the  Emperor  himself. 

Soon  after  our  arrival  in  Tokyo,  we  were  invited  with  our 
fellow-passengers  of  the  "  Shinyo  Maru  "  to  a  reception  at 
the  palace  of  Mr.  Asano,  the  chief  owner  of  the  Nippon  Yusen 
Kaisha  Line.  I  think  in  no  other  country  have  I  seen  such 
a  lavish  display  of  wealth  and  luxury.  Mr.  Asano  is  many 
times  a  millionaire,  and  his  maritime  ventures  had  poured 
untold  ,wealth  into  his  coffers  because  of  the  European  war 
and  the  universal  shortage  of  shipping  which  had  raised  freight 
and  passenger  rates  enormously.  He  had  expended  his  wealth 
with  a  lavish  hand  on  his  great  house  and  magnificent  grounds, 
and  had  the  custom  of  entertaining  the  first-class  passengers  of 
his  principal  ships  after  every  voyage. 

He,  too,  like  many  wealthy  Japanese,  maintained  both  a 
European  and  a  Japanese  establishment,  joined  together  by 
corridors,  but  as  dissimilar  in  furnishing  and  appearance  as 
two  houses  could  well  be.     The  European  house  was  filled 


JAPAN     IN     1916  547 

with  the  most  expensive  and  modern  furniture,  bric-a-brac, 
candelabra,  frescoes,  and  paintings.  The  huge  drawing-room 
easily  accommodated  two  or  three  hundred  seated  around  small 
lacquer  tables,  on  which  refreshments  were  served,  while  a 
foreign  prima  donna  sang  to  us,  and  Japanese  jugglers  per- 
formed wonderful  feats  of  sleight  of  hand.  There  were 
immense  treasures  of  all  sorts  of  articles  of  vertUy  under  glass 
cases,  for  our  inspection.  In  the  Japanese  part  of  the  house, 
with  its  paper  walls  and  sliding  panels,  only  a  very  few  decora- 
tions and  "  kakemonos,"  appropriate  to  the  month  of  March, 
and  some  pigs  in  plaster  and  papier  mache  (for  it  was  "the 
year  of  the  pig  ")  sparsely  adorned  the  rooms. 

As  I  was  known  to  have  some  connection  with  various 
peace  societies  of  America,  the  Church  Peace  Union,  the 
American  and  the  Massachusetts  Peace  Societies,  and  other 
similar  organizations,  a  reception  and  banquet  were  kindly 
arranged  for  me  by  the  Japanese  Peace  Society  of  Tokyo. 
Baron  Shibusawa,  a  wealthy  and  noted  nobleman,  well-known 
for  his  earnest  advocacy  of  peace,  his  son-in-law,  another 
baron,  and  many  other  titled  Japanese  were  present,  together 
with  the  American  consul,  and  several  missionaries,  for  the 
society  was  an  international  one.  Most  earnest  speeches  in 
favor  of  peace  and  good-will  among  men,  though  the  world 
was  then  in  the  throes  of  the  most  awful  war  of  all  history, 
were  made,  both  by  the  Japanese  and  English-speaking  guests, 
with  especial  emphasis  on  the  necessity  of  America  and  Japan 
keeping  on  good  terms.  I  attempted  to  tell  them  something 
of  the  efforts  of  the  American  peace  societies  to  keep  our 
country  out  of  war,  for  it  was  then  a  year  and  more  before 
,we  entereci  the  conflict,  and  President  Wilson  had  yet  to  be 
elected  on  the  slogan,  "  He  Kept  Us  Out  of  War."  The 
menu  was  an  elaborate  one  in  foreign  style,  with  no  chopsticks, 
rice,  or  soy  in  evidence. 

Another  interesting  excursion  that  I  enjoyed  when  in  Kyoto, 
the  sacred  ancient  capital,  where  we  spent  a  few  days  with 


548  MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN    IN     MANY    LANDS 

our  old  missionary  friends  the  Carys,  was  to  the  tomb  of  the 
late  Emperor,  to  which  Dr.  Tasuku  Harada,  then  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Doshisha,  invited  us  to  go.  The  journey  of  eight 
or  ten  miles  was  accomplished  in  one  of  the  few  automobiles 
of  Kyoto,  and  seemed  full  of  peril,  not  so  much  to  the  occu- 
pants of  the  automobile  as  to  the  swarms  of  Japanese  children 
and  their  elders,  who  stolidly  clattered  through  the  highways 
paying  no  regard  seemingly  to  the  honking  horn  that  warned 
them  of  our  approach.  By  the  skin  of  their  teeth  they 
escaped  destruction  a  thousand  times,  and  at  last  we  drew  near 
to  the  sacred  and  solemn  last  resting-place  of  the  great 
Emperor. 

Thousands  and  thousands  of  pilgrims  lined  the  roadway 
from  the  nearest  railway  station,  and  we  were 'told  that  some- 
thing like  ten  thousand  mourners  had  visited  the  grave  every 
day  since  the  funeral  of  his  majesty.  Many  came  by  train, 
many  by  jinrikishas,  and  many  walked  scores  of  miles  to  do 
homage  to  their  late  ruler.  As  we  approached  the  grave  the 
road  widened  out  into  a  great  boulevard  beautifully  kept, 
and  lined  on  either  side  by  tall  pines  trees,  which  had  been 
transported  full  grown  from  a  distance  and  which  were 
swathed  in  cloth  to  make  their  life  and  growth  more  certain. 

At  last  we  came  within  sight  of  the  tomb  itself,  but  were 
separated  from  it  by  two  rows  of  stone  posts  beautifully 
carved  and  set  parallel  to  one  another.  Beyond  the  outer 
fence  was  a  bubbling  fountain  with  various  bamboo  dippers 
near-by.  In  this  fountain  the  devout  worshippers  washed 
their  hands  and  rinsed  their  mouths  from  all  defilement  before 
they  ventured  to  do  homage  to  the  Emperor. 

As  I  was  about  to  approach  a  little  nearer  to  the  sacred 
tomb.  Dr.  Harada  asked  me  if  1  had  worn  my  dress  coat,  or 
at  least  a  Prince  Albert  under  my  overcoat.  I  had  to  confess 
that  I  had  not,  but  simply  an  ordinary  business  suit.  He 
expressed  his  regret  that  1  would  not  be  allowed  to  approach 
the  second  line  of  carved  posts  and  get  a  nearer  view  of  the 


JAPAN  IN   19 1 6  549 

tomb,  for  that  was  the  imperative  law.  Every  one  must  lay 
aside  his  outer  garment,  and  approach  the  grave  in  formal 
clothes  or  else  stand  far  away.  I  remembered  that  a  few 
years  before,  when  I  had  an  audience  with  the  living  Emperor, 
I  was  required  to  wear  evening  clothes,  white  tie  and  gloves, 
and  a  tall  hat,  as  was  to  be  expected,  since  this  is  the  usual 
custom  of  courts,  but  I  had  not  realized  that  after  he  was  dead 
he  would  expect  the  same  formalities. 

However,  we  washed  our  hands  at  the  fountain,  and  stood 
afar  off  gazing  curiously,  and  with  some  reverence  at  the  vast 
pile  of  pebbles  painted  white  that  covered  his  last  resting-place. 
It  was  truly  an  impressive  mausoleum.  A  hill  clad  in  sombre 
evergreens  rises  directly  behind  the  grave,  which  sets  off  the 
little  mountain  of  white  stones  and  gives  the  whole  place  an 
air  of  solemn  grandeur.  Just  beyond  is  a  magnificent  view  of 
the  distant  country,  for  the  grave  is  upon  a  sightly  elevation, 
and  not  far  away,  though  out  of  sight  from  the  Emperor's 
grave,  is  the  mausoleum  of  the  late  Empress,  a  replica  of  the 
Emperor's  tomb  on  a  smaller  scale. 

On  returning  to  Tokyo  we  had  the  pleasure  of  visiting  the 
ancient  palace,  the  former  abode  of  the  Mikadoes  of  Japan, 
where  the  impressive  ceremonies  of  the  inauguration  of  the 
new  Emperor  had  recently  taken  place. 

The  palace,  though  enormous  in  size,  and  consisting  of 
many  different  buildings,  is  marked  by  extreme  simplicity, 
much  more  so  than  the  palace  in  Tokyo,  where  I  had  had  the 
interview  with  the  old  Emperor.  An  interesting  building  on 
the  palace  grounds  had  a  small  chamber  where  the  new  Em- 
peror, after  various  washings  and  ceremonies,  watched  and 
prayed,  clad  in  mediaeval  armor,  during  the  whole  night  be- 
fore his  inauguration,  while  many  nobles  in  a  little  pavilion 
near-by,  kept  him  company  in  his  vigils  and  his  prayers.  The 
buildings  on  the  palace  grounds  are  all  low,  mostly  of  one 
story,  and  with  no  suggestion  of  the  influence  of  foreign 
architecture. 


550  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

While  in  Kyoto,  too,  we  enjoyed  a  delightful  reception 
given  by  the  missionaries  and  the  faculty  of  the  Uoshisha,  and 
I  had  the  privilege  of  speaking  once  more  to  several  hundreds 
of  the  advanced  students  of  this  famous  institution,  as  well 
as  to  the  theological  classes. 

Another  pleasant  reception  in  the  Girls'  College  at  Kobe, 
which  is  now  under  the  care  of  the  eminent  educator.  Miss 
Charlotte  DeForest,  left  a  happy  memory.  These  Japanese 
receptions  mingle  the  formal  and  the  informal,  the  jovial  and 
the  serious,  in  a  very  happy  way,  and  are  far  less  stiff  than 
the  line-up  of  the  average  American  reception,  where  one  must 
stand  for  an  hour  while  his  hand  is  squeezed  and  battered  out 
of  shape  by  some  hundreds  or  thousands  of  stalwart  shakers. 

We  sailed  from  Moji  for  Fusan  in  Korea,  after  a  day  spent 
in  the  Presbyterian  Girls'  School  in  Shimonozeki,  a  fine  institu- 
tion worthy  of  the  great  denomination  that  fosters  it.  The 
evening  before  we  sailed,  some  kind  friends  tendered  us  a  ban- 
quet in  foreign  style  in  a  foreign  hotel  in  Moji,  after  a  large 
meeting  in  the  Union  Tabernacle,  a  church  which  is  a  triumph 
of  interdenominational  fellowship,  bringing  all  the  Christians 
of  the  city  together  for  work  and  worship.  The  banquet  was 
notable  for  its  elaborateness  and  its  distinctly  foreign  character, 
and  for  the  many  dishes  to  which  a  somewhat  failing  appetite 
on  the  part  of  both  of  us  scarcely  allowed  us  to  do  credit.  A 
good  Christian  Japanese  lady  of  means  accompanied  us  to  the 
steamer,  declaring  that  she  was  our  spiritual  daughter,  and 
would  always  bear  us  in  mind  in  her  thought  and  prayer.  Thus 
with  these  good  omens  and  kindly  farewells  we  ended  our 
fourth  visit  to  lovely  Nippon,  and  sailed  across  the  rough 
strait  that  separates  Japan  from  her  new  dependency,  the  Land 
of  the  Morning  Calm. 


Chapter  XLVIII 
Year  19  i6 

IN   THE  LAND  OF  MORNING   CALM 

KOREA      AFTER      SIXTEEN      YEARS GREAT      IMPROVEMENTS 

NATIONAL    UNREST TWELVE     HUNDRED     PEOPLE     AT    A 

•PRAYER      MEETING PNEUMONIA BEST      LAID       PLANS 

GANG  AFT  AGLEY MUKDEN,  THE  BARBARIC. 

'OREA  just  at  the  time  of  which  I  write 
"1^  deserved  the  soubriquet  which  heads  this 
chapter  more  than  it  had  a  few  years  earlier, 
or  than  it  did  a  few  years  later.  It  was 
^  apparently  a  time  of  both  morning  and  after- 
noon calm  for  this  long  peninsula  and  its 
eighteen  millions  of  inhabitants.  A  few  years  before,  when 
Japan  first  took  over  the  control  of  the  country  and  gave  up 
its  pretence  of  merely  "  peaceful  penetration,"  riots  were 
numerous,  and  harsh  measures  were  resorted  to,  .which  the  rest 
of  the  world  loudly  disapproved  and  did  something  to  modify. 
Many  of  the  insurgents  were  found  among  the  Christians 
since  they  were  among  the  more  enlightened  and  freedom- 
loving  portion  of  the  people,  and  the  missionaries  were  for  a 
time  in  disfavor  with  the  Japanese  government. 

Again,  three  years  after  the  visit  of  which  I  write,  the 
general  uprising  of  the  subject  nations  after  the  Great  War 
(induced  by  world  restlessness  as  well  as  by  President  Wilson's 
splendid  idealism  and  his  famous  "  fourteen  points ")  was 
shared  by  the  Koreans  who  demanded  that  the  same  freedom 
that  had  been  given  to  the  Poles  and  the  Czechs  should  be 

551 


^^2  MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 

meted  out  to  them.  Once  more  many  Christians  were  among 
the  insurgents,  and  the  incipient  rebellion  was  put  down  with 
savage  cruelty  by  the  militarists  who  were  then  in  control  of 
Korea.  Fortunately,  this  phase  of  Japaneses  rule  is  now 
ended,  and,  we  may  hope,  for  all  time. 

But  there  was  an  interval  between  1910  and  1919  when  this 
ancient  kingdom,  now  reduced  to  a  satrapy  of  Japan,  seemed 
to  deserve  its  ancient  name,  and  apparent  peace  and  good  will 
(perhaps  only  on  the  surface )  reigned  throughout  the  penin- 
sula. We  were  fortunate  to  visit  Korea  in  one  of  these  happier 
years.  It  was  cold  and  raw  enough  on  the  March  morning 
when  we  stepped  from  the  deck  of  the  steamer  after  a  stormy 
night  upon  the  Korean  channel.  And  yet,  disagreeable  as 
was  the  weather,  and  dim  as  was  the  light  of  the  early  dawn, 
we  could  not  help  noticing  the  great  changes  for  the  better 
which  had  taken  place  in  this  leading  seaport  of  Fusan  since  our 
last  visit. 

Sixteen  years  before,  Korea  was  under  the  rule  of  a  decadent 
and  corrupt  monarchy.  Its  last  and  worst  days  as  an  inde- 
pendent nation  had  come.  China,  Japan,  and  Russia  had  been 
for  centuries  battling  for  the  supremacy  of  this  unhappy  land. 
Nominally  Korea  still  gave  tribute  to  China,  though  Japan 
was  even  then  by  far  the  most  important  power,  and  Japanese 
merchants  and  propagandists  had  penetrated  to  the  far  interior. 

Fusan  itself,  in  spite  of  its  magnificent  harbor,  was  a 
wretched  run-down  little  sea-port,  but  now  we  found  it 
equipped  with  splendid  wharves  and  .warehouses,  and  saw  that 
it  was  the  terminal  of  a  great  railway  system,  that  tapped  not 
only  all  Korea  but  far  Manchuria,  Mongolia,  Siberia,  and 
China.  The  white-robed  "hicky-men  "  still  carried  their 
enormous  burdens  on  their  backs,  but  the  steam  horse  had 
evidently  come  to  share  with  them  the  heavy  loads  which  pre- 
viously they  and  the  donkeys  alone  had  carried. 

As  we  travelled  up  the  line  toward  the  north  we  saw  marvel- 


IN    THE    LAND    OF    MORNING    CALM  553 

lous  material  improvements  everywhere.  Fine  public  build- 
ings had  been  erected  in  many  places;  agricultural  schools  had 
been  established  in  every  province ;  automobile  roads  had  been 
built  or  projected,  and  the  bare  brown  hillsides,  which  fifteen 
years  before  had  resembled  an  elevated  desert  of  Sahara,  were 
now  smiling  with  a  young  growth  of  pines,  for  the  Japanese 
had  covered  the  waste  places  of  Korea  with  hundreds  of 
millions  of  young  trees. 

These  were  some  of  the  material  gains  from  the  Japanese 
occupation.  But  such  blessings  do  not  compensate  a  people 
for  the  loss  of  their  national  integrity  and  the  absorption  of 
their  national  life  in  that  of  another,  and,  though  the  fires  of 
revoluton  did  not  break  out  in  Korea  for  some  years,  they  were 
smouldering,  as  later  events  proved. 

While  waiting  for  a  train  to  carry  us  northward  we  called 
again  on  our  friend  Dr.  Irvin,  who,  on  a  previous  visit,  had 
accompanied  us  on  the  delightful  trip  to  the  Buddhist  monas- 
tery in  the  mountains.  He  is  no  longer  a  missionary  of  the 
Presbyterian  Board,  but  has  a  large  private  practice  of  his  own. 

He  told  us  of  a  terrible  conflict  that  he  had  recently  had 
with  three  Korean  thugs,  who,  on  pretence  of  seeking  medical 
advice,  had  come  in  the  middle  of  the  night  to  murder  him 
and  rob  his  house.  He  is  a  tremendously  powerful  man,  and 
was  equal,  single-handed,  to  the  three  ruffians,  whom,  after 
a  bloody  struggle,  in  which  much  furniture  was  destroyed  and 
three  heads  were  broken,  he  managed  to  put  out  of  his  house 
just  as  relief  came.  These  men  were  afterwards  apprehended 
and  imprisoned  for  life.  As  told  by  Dr.  Irvin  it  was  one  of 
the  most  thrilling  stories  I  ever  listened  to.  It  w^ould  make 
the  fortune  of  an  O.  Henry  if  he  could  work  it  up  in  all  its 
grim  details. 

Our  first  stop  in  Korea  was  at  Taiku,  where  ,we  were  received 
by  a  great  company  of  uniformed  boys  from  the  Presbyterian 
schools  in  true  military  fashion  and  by  most  of  the  Christians 


554  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

of  the  city.    The  boys  were  drawn  up  in  a  hollow  square,  while 
we  reviewed  them  and  received  their  cheers,  and  then,  in  a 
long  line  of  jinrikishas  we  rode  off  to  an  ancient  park  where 
the  formal  reception  and  the  first  Christian  Endeavor  meeting 
of  the  series  was  to  be  held.     Our  friends  Dr.  Pettee  and  Mr. 
Sawaya  were  with  us  and  were  also  called  upon  for  addresses. 
Seoul,  the  capital,  was  our  next  stopping-place,  and  there  we 
were  the  guests  of  the  well-known  Dr.  Avison,  whose  splendid 
hospital  with  every  modern  appliance  for  advanced  medicine 
and  surgery  is  the  pride  of  the  Christians  of  Korea.    On  reach- 
ing Seoul  we  found  an  invitation  to  lunch  from  the  Governor- 
General,   Count  Terauchi,   which   was  accepted  by  the  male 
members  of  the  party,  but  declined  by  Mrs.  Clark,  as  a  sudden 
illness  seemed  to  make  it  impossible  for  her  to  attend.    There- 
upon the  Count  cancelled   his  invitation  to  certain  Japanese 
and  other  ladies  who  had  been  invited,  and  decided  to  make  it 
a  gentlemen's  party.     The  next  day,  however,   Mrs.   Clark 
was  much  better,  and  the  Governor-General,  hearing  of  her 
improvement,  again  reversed  his  plans,  once  more  invited  the 
ladies  to  come,  and  carried  out  his  original  intention. 

It  proved  to  be  an  elaborate  luncheon,  with  kindly  speeches 
from  the  Governor-General,  Chief-Justice  Watanabe,  the 
American  consul,  and  the  guests  from  America.  The  Count 
speaks  only  French  and  Japanese,  and  as  Mrs.  Clark  was  seated 
between  the  Count  and  the  Chief-Justice,  ,who  also  spoke  only 
French  and  Japanese,  she  had  to  call  up  all  her  lingua  franca. 
which  dated  back  to  her  school-girl  days.  My  seatmate,  for- 
tunately, was  a  Japanese  lady  who  spoke  English  most  flu- 
ently, so  that  I  had  no  difficulty  with  the  social  part  of  the 
entertainment.  The  luncheon,  owing  to  the  French  chef  of 
the  palace,  could  not  have  been  surpassed  in  any  first-class 
hotel  in  Paris. 

After  the  luncheon  the  Governor-General  sent  one  of  the 
members  of  his  cabinet  with  us  to  visit  some  Korean  schools, 


IN    THE    LAND    OF     MORNING    CALM  $55 

and  also  the  museum,  of  which  he  is  very  proud,  where  were 
displayed  products  of  the  different  enterprises  which  Japan 
was  encouraging,  and  especially  the  revival  of  certain  keramic 
arts,  which  had  died  out  during  Korea's  decadent  years.  It 
is  a  well-known  fact  that  Japan  derived  her  knowledge  of 
pottery  and  porcelain  from  Korea  where  these  arts  flourished 
when  Japan  was  a  barbarous  country  and  looked  across  the 
channel  for  the  beginnings  of  her  civilization. 

Another  interesting  visit  made  possible  by  Count  Terauchi, 
was  to  the  ancient  palace  of  the  deppsed  Emperor  of  Korea, 
who,  by  the  way,  had  been  given  a  consolation  prize  of  several 
hundred  thousand  yen  a  year.  Our  party  was  conveyed  in  fine 
carriages  drawn  by  pairs  of  spanking  black  horses.  After 
driving  through  an  enormous  park  filled  with  giant  trees  we 
drew  up  in  front  of  a  conservatory  where  tropical  plants  of 
all  kinds  and  huge  banana  and  palm  trees  flourished.  It  was 
a  wintry  day  outside,  and  the  change  on  entering  the  conserva- 
tory seemed  like  passing  from  the  Arctic  regions  to  the  Tropics. 
Here  tea  and  a  certain  kind  of  Kingly  cake  was  served,  and 
then  we  further  explored  the  palace  grounds  which  contained 
many  royal  residences,  most  of  them  of  rather  a  humble  char- 
acter but  built  on  the  same  general  plan  as  the  old  palace  of 
Kyoto,  though  with  Korean  peculiarities. 

A  generous  reception  at  Dr.  Avison's,  and  many  meetings 
and  preaching  services  filled  to  the  brim  our  few  days  in  Seoul, 
which  we  found  in  many  ways  a  most  interesting  city.  The 
superposition  of  modern  Japanese  civilization  upon  ancient 
Korea  produces  many  striking  contrasts.  Side  by  side  wdth 
some  of  the  ancient  hovels  are  splendid  bank  buildings,  great 
government  palaces  and  public  ofiices,  and  the  finest  hotel  in 
all  the  East.  The  signs  over  the  doors  are  in  Japanese  and 
ill-spelled  English,  as  is  the  custom  at  home  of  these  pro- 
gressive linguists  of  the  Island  Empire. 

A  supper  and  prayer  meeting  at  Judge  Watanabe's  must  not 


^^6  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN     MANY    LANDS 

be  forgotten.  His  home  is  an  evangelical  oasis  in  an  official 
Buddhist  and  Shinto  desert.  His  earnest  devotion  to  the  little 
Christian  church  did  not  seem  to  weaken  his  influence  with 
the  Japanese  officials,  for  indeed  he  ranked,  as  Chief  Justice, 
among  the   highest  of  them. 

It  is  a  six  hours'  journey  from  Seoul  to  Pyeng  Yang  where 
some  of  our  most  important  appointments  in  Korea  were 
scheduled.  This  is  one  of  the  largest  cities  of  inland  Korea 
and  for  many  years  has  been  a  great  missionary  centre  both  of 
the  Presbyterians  and  the  Methodists,  especially  of  the  Presby- 
terians. We  were  surprised  to  find  that  autos  had  penetrated 
so  far  into  primitive  Korea,  and,  as  it  was  cold  and  raw,  we 
were  delighted  that  we  were  not  obliged  to  take  a  breezy  jin- 
rikisha  for  several  miles  to  the  house  of  Rev.  Mr.  Holdcroft, 
who  was  to  be  our  kindly  host. 

That  same  evening  all  the  missionaries  were  invited  to 
dine  with  us  at  Mr.  Holdcroft's  house,  and  we  found  them  a 
splendid  company  of  keenly  intelligent,  wide-awake,  aggres- 
sive Christians,  who  had  already  accomplished  great  things 
for  the  civilization  and  evangelization  of  their  part  of  Korea. 
The  next  day,  March  21,  was  equally  cold  and  disagreeable 
and  reminded  us  of  the  worst  March  weather  in  New  England. 
However  we  did  not  have  much  time  to  think  of  the  weather, 
for  six  meetings  of  various  kinds  in  Japanese  and  Korean 
churches  and  in  missionary  homes  filled  up  the  day,  except 
for  an  automobile  ride  to  different  points  of  interest  around 
this  historic  city  where  one  of  the  great  battles  of  the  Chino- 
Japanese  war  had  been  fought. 

The  crowded  native  city  was  even  more  interesting  to  me 
than  the  battlefield,  for  here  we  could  see  where  the  Koreans 
for  centuries  had  lived  and  died,  bought  and  sold,  and  con- 
ducted their  domestic  functions,  many  of  which  as  in  all  orien- 
tal countries  are  performed  in  the  open  air.  I  was  particularly 
delighted  with  the  evening  congregation  in  the  large  Presby- 


IN    THE    LAND    OF    MORNING    CALM  557 

terian  Church  which  I  was  asked  to  address.  It  was  the  mid- 
week prayer-meeting  evening  of  the  church,  and  the  congrega- 
tion was  little  larger,  I  imagine,  than  at  the  regular  mid-week 
service.  At  least  1,200  persons  were  present,  the  men  on 
one  side  of  the  low  partition,  and  the  women  on  the  other, 
squatting  on  the  floor,  on  the  platform  steps,  and  in  the  far 
corners  of  the  room,  as  thickly  as  human  beings  could  crowd 
together.  I  stood  with  my  interpreter  directly  behind  the  thin 
partition  so  that  the  male  and  female  audiences  on  either  side 
of  it  could  see  and  hear.  As  can  be  imagined  the  singing  was 
hearty  and  full-throated  even  if  not  absolutely  perfect  accord- 
ing to  western  musical  standards. 

This  meeting  and  the  strenuous  days  which  precedeci  it  must 
have  been  the  last  straws  that  broke  the  camel's  back,  for  the 
next  morning  I  rose  at  three  o'clock  with  a  raging  fever,  to 
take  the  train  for  Syen  Chun.  I  managed  to  struggle  down  to 
the  breakfast  table  but  could  not  stay,  and  soon  had  to  give  up 
all  thought  of  going  on  that  day.  A  frightful  chill  which 
seemed  to  rattle  all  my  bones  in  their  sockets  overtook  me 
before  I  got  back  into  bed  once  more,  and  Dr.  Folwell,  a  medi- 
cal missionary  of  the  Methodist  church,  who  was  called  at 
daylight,  pronounced  my  trouble  pneumonia,  and  ordered  me 
peremptorily,  to  cancel  all  engagements  for  the  next  month. 

This  was  a  hard  blow,  for  I  had  almost  constant  appoint- 
ments to  speak  at  meetings  which  had  been  arranged  months 
in  advance  at  Syen  Chun,  Mukden,  Peking,  Nanking,  Shanghai, 
Suchau,  and  above  all  at  the  Christian  Endeavor  National  Con- 
vention in  Hangchow,  in  early  April.  However,  for  the  pres- 
ent at  least  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  stay  in  bed.  It 
proved  to  be  the  beginning  of  many  woes,  even  though  a  com- 
paratively mild  case  of  pneumonia.  The  fever  kept  up  for 
days  at  a  gradually  decreasing  rate.  Our  hosts,  the  Holdcrofts, 
were  most  kind,  as  were  all  the  missionaries  of  the  station. 
Even   the  governor  of  the   province   called,   and   Governor- 


558  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

General  Terauchi  himself  sent  kindly  inquiries  concerning  my 
health. 

After  ten  days,  hoping  to  save  something  out  of  the  wreck 
of  my  plans  for  China,  I  decided  to  go  on,  though  against 
the  advice  of  all  the  missionaries,  and  with  the  very  reluctant 
consent  of  the  doctor.  On  the  way  to  Mukden  we  spent  one 
night  in  a  delightful  missionary  home  in  Syen  Chun.  I  was 
unable  to  hold  meetings  except  with  a  missionary  group  who 
gathered  in  the  home  of  two  ladies  who  entertained  us. 

The  next  day  a  long  ride  in  a  cold  car  took  us  to  Mukden, 
the  capital  of  Manchuria,  where  we  found  a  very  comfortable 
Japanese  hotel,  built  in  modern  style.  This  was  characteristic 
of  one  of  the  many  efforts  of  Japan  in  connection  with  their 
railway  to  tighten  their  grip  on  Manchuria  and  western  Asia. 

I  must  confess,  as  I  look  back  upon  it,  that  this  whole 
journey  from  Honolulu  on,  was  a  most  foolhardy  undertaking. 
Much  of  it  seems  like  a  nightmare.  I  was  not  well  enough 
to  attempt  such  strenuous  travelling  and  constant  meetings  as 
awaited  me,  but  I  did  not  realize  how  insidious  had  been  the 
effects  of  the  typhoid  fever,  or  how  little  strength  and  vitality 
I  had  left.  Still  there  seemed  to  be  nothing  left  to  do  but  to 
press  on  and  take  the  attendant  risks. 

In  Mukden  we  had  great  difficulty,  owing  to  the  stupidity  of 
our  Chinese  driver,  in  finding  the  mission  station  where  I  was 
expected  to  make  an  address  on  Sunday  afternoon.  In  spite 
of  our  protests  he  took  us  in  an  entirely  wrong  direction  to  a 
distant  part  of  the  city,  miles  from  the  mission  house  which  was 
comparatively  near  our  hotel.  When  we  reached  it  we  heard 
the  leader  of  the  meeting,  which  had  been  waiting  an  hour  for 
us,  pronouncing  the  benediction.  However,  the  missionaries 
stayed  together  for  another  half  hour  to  hear  something  about 
Christian  Endeavor  in  other  lands.  The  movement  had 
already  taken  root  in  some  parts  of  Manchuria  in  the  missions 
of  the  Irish  and  Scotch  Presbyterian  churches. 


IN    THE    LAND    OF    MORNING    CALM  559 

A  trifling  incident  over  which  we  afterwards  smiled  occurred 
in  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Mission  as  we  were  introduced  to  a 
lady  whom  we  understood  to  be  "  Miss  Kelly."  When,  how- 
ever, she  soon  afterwards  introduced  us  to  her  husband,  Rev. 
Mr.  Miskelly,  we  learned  our  mistake  and  found  that  .we  had 
first  been  introduced  to  Mrs.  Miskelly. 

Our  obtuse  driver  gave  us  a  view  of  the  city  of  Mukden 
which  we  should  not  have  obtained  had  it  not  been  for  his 
stupidity,  since  we  had  to  leave  the  city  early  the  next  morn- 
ing. There  are  few  cities  in  the  world  equal  to  Mukden  for 
a  sort  of  bizarre  and  barbaric  picturesqueness.  As  we  were 
driven  slowly  through  its  tortuous  streets,  crowded  from  curb 
to  curb  with  human  beings,  through  its  gates,  which  dated 
back  a  thousand  years,  and  which  seemed  to  be  continually 
opening  before  us,  since  the  city  has  been  surrounded  in  the 
course  of  centuries  by  several  .walls  j  as  we  saw  the  hideous  but 
characteristic  decorations,  in  which  the  old  dragon  of  the 
Manchus  was  often  reproduced  in  most  grotesque  forms,  we 
wished  that  we  might  have  a  week  to  explore  these  fascinating 
but  unsavory  purlieus  which  seemed  more  typically  character- 
istic of  ancient  China  than  anything  we  had  before  seen. 

Peking  had  been  wonderfully  modernized  since  our  first 
visit  j  Shanghai's  large  foreign  element  makes  one  sometimes 
forget  that  he  is  actually  in  China;  Canton  has  been  vastly 
changed  and  deodorized  within  the  last  quarter  of  a  century, 
but  Mukden  is  evidently  the  same  old  Mukden  of  a  thousand 
years  ago. 


Chapter  XLIX 
Year  19 i6 

THE    CHINA    OF     YUAN    SHI    KAI 

UNWISE    ECONOMY BESIDE    THE    GREAT    WALL YUAN    SHI 

KAl's   PRETENSIONS MEMORABLE   SCENES   IN    PEKING 

HANGCHOW TEN    THOUSAND    MILES    OF    TRAVEL    FOR    A 

TEN-MINUTE    SPEECH  IN    A    CHINESE     REVOLUTION  

WEARY      DAYS      OF       ILLNESS  CORMORANT      FISHING  

HOME  AGAIN. 

HE  next  morning  we  left  Mukden  bright  and 
early  for  Peking  in  a  wretched  second-class 
box  car  with  tiny  windows,  for  a  cold  and 
dreary  two  days'  ride.  As  I  was  paying  all 
our  expenses  and  making  personal  contribu- 
tions to  the  missions  whose  hospitality  we 
enjoyed,  and  had  no  wealthy  society  at  home  to  provide  travel 
comfort,  I  felt  that  we  must  economize  on  these  long  journeys, 
an  unwise  decision  very  likely,  considering  my  state  of  health. 
This  journey  was  a  very  uncomfortable  one.  The  seats 
on  the  second-class  cars  were  then  either  hard  boards  or  made 
of  slippery  cane  with  a  downward  slant  that  made  it  impossible 
to  sit  upright  unless  one  continuously  braced  himself  against 
his  impedimenta.  Moreover  the  meals  on  these  routes  were 
then  few  and  scanty,  and  the  cold  seemed  to  penetrate  to  our 
bones. 

We  spent  the  night  at  Shan-hai-kwan,  on  the  shores  of  the 
sea,  at  the  very  foot  of  the  Great  Wall,  which,  after  meander- 
ing for  1,200  miles  across  China,  here  comes  to  a  full  stop  on 

560 


THE    CHINA    OF    YUAN    SHI    KAI  563 

the  picturesque  and  rock-bound  coast.  The  foreign  hotel  had 
been  closed  for  some  reason,  and  we  had  to  seek  shelter  in  a 
wretched  Chinese  inn  through  which  the  cold  March  winds 
rioted  in  a  way  that  was  by  no  means  good  for  a  man  who  was 
just  recovering  from  pneumonia. 

However,  the  next  day's  journey  was  in  a  somewhat  more 
comfortable  car,  and  we  reached  Peking  before  nightfall  and 
rejoiced  to  find  ourselves  in  the  warm  and  comfortable  mission- 
ary home  of  Rev.  Harry  Martin  after  thirty-six  hours  of  cold 
discomfort.  Another  disappointment  awaited  us  here,  for  we 
found  that  many  of  our  missionary  friends  whom  we  had 
expected  to  see  had  gone  to  the  annual  meeting  of  the  mission 
at  Pao-ting-fu,  where  sixteen  years  before  we  had  seen  the 
brave  men  and  women  just  before  their  martyrdom  in  the 
Boxer  uprising,  as  I  have  before  related. 

The  disarrangement  of  my  plans  caused  by  the  long  delay 
in  Pyeng  Yang  naturally  prevented  any  large  meetings  in 
Peking,  but  we  visited  and  addressed  some  of  the  schools  of 
the  American  Board  mission,  and  saw  something  of  the  mar- 
vellous changes  which  sixteen  short  years  had  wrought  in 
China's  capital.  Legation  Street  which  then  had  been  a 
muddy,  and  at  times,  almost  impassable  thoroughfare,  filled 
in  places  ,with  filth  and  offal,  was  now  a  broad,  wealthy  avenue, 
lined  with  fine  buildings  of  a  diplomatic  and  commercial  char- 
acter. Department  stores  had  been  established,  where  goods 
from  all  parts  of  the  world  were  offered  for  sale.  The  lega- 
tion buildings  themselves  had  been  greatly  improved  and 
electric  cars  made  access  easy  and  possible  to  many  parts  of 
the  city. 

Our  visit  was  toward  the  end  of  President  Yuan  Shi  Kai's 
short  and  inglorious  supremacy.  He  had  been  elected  presi- 
dent because  he  was  the  "  strong  man  "  of  China  from  the 
militarist's  point  of  view,  and  at  first  he  seemed  to  deserve  the 
enconiums  that  were  heaped  upon  him  for  his  part  in  bringing 


564  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

order  out  of  chaos  after  the  fall  of  the  Manchu  dynasty.  But 
the  sense  of  power  and  authority  went  to  his  head  and  he 
yielded  to  unwise  counsellors,  and  it  is  said  also  to  the  impor- 
tunities of  his  wife,  who  like  other  women  of  history  have 
exercised  an  unhappy  influence  over  their  lords.  He  resolved 
to  make  himself  emperor  and  found  a  dynasty  of  his  own  to 
which  his  sons  should  succeed. 

We  happened  to  be  there  at  the  very  time  of  the  incubation 
of  his  ill-starred  attempt.  He  had  fixed  the  day  when  he 
should  be  proclaimed  China's  Caesar.  The  Forbidden  City  had 
been  re-decorated  in  golden,  glowing  colors,  and  triumphal 
arches  had  been  erected  under  which  he  expected  to  march  with 
his  conquering  cohorts.  He  had  even  coined  new  silver  dol- 
lars to  take  the  place  of  the  old  "  Mexicans,"  with  his  own 
face  in  bold  relief  upon  one  side. 

Peking  was  in  a  ferment  during  our  two  days'  visit,  and 
rumors  were  abroad  that  several  of  the  President's  chief  gen- 
erals, who  did  not  agree  with  his  ambitious  projects,  had  been 
beheaded  on  the  day  of  our  arrival.  A  counter-rebellion  was 
expected  to  break  out  at  any  moment. 

However  things  remained  comparatively  quiet  except  for 
these  wild  rumors  and  the  natural  excitement  which  they 
engendered.  A  little  later  Yuan  actually  proclaimed  himself 
Emperor,  and  for  a  few  days  enjoyed  his  empty  honors.  But 
the  best  laid  plans  of  kings  as  well  as  those  of  ordinary  men 
gang  aft  agley.  China  would  not  brook  another  monarchy. 
Republican  instincts  were  too  powerful  among  the  people  for 
even  a  strong  man  to  resist.  Rival  strong  men  appeared,  and, 
however  sinister  their  motives,  they  arrayed  themselves  on 
the  side  of  the  people  against  Yuan,  and  he  was  soon  forced 
to  abdicate  and  to  denounce  his  previous  pretensions  in  the 
most  abject  and  humiliating  manner. 

The  most  interesting  hours  that  I  spent  in  Peking  were  with 
Dr.    Ingram,  an  American   missionary,  who  was   one   of   the 


THE    CHINA    OF    YUAN    SHI     KAI  ^6S 

heroes  of  the  siege  of  sixteen  years  before  and  who  went  with 
me  over  the  battleground,  showing  the  places  on  the  wall 
where  the  fiercest  conflicts  occurred,  as  well  as  the  places  in  the 
grounds  of  the  British  Legation  where  the  Boxers  were  most 
stubbornly  resisted.  Here  was  placed  by  the  besieged  the  one 
poor  old  gun  that  was  fired  with  such  tremendous  effect. 
There  we  saw  the  exact  spot  where,  by  a  sudden  change  of 
wind,  the  fire  which  the  Boxers  had  relied  upon  to  compel 
the  capitulation  of  the  besieged  forces,  was  stayed.  If  any 
one  can  make  the  excursion  to  these  ever-memorable  spots 
and  not  believe  in  the  divine  protection  given  to  God's  fol- 
lowers he  must  indeed  be  a  confirmed  skeptic.  The  stores  of 
hundreds  of  tons  of  rice,  most  unusual  and  providential,  which 
the  besieged  were  able  to  draw  upon  and  thus  prevent  starva- 
tion, is  another  marvellous  part  of  the  story,  but  it  would 
take  volumes  to  describe  it  in  all  its  details.  I  was  especially 
interested  because  on  our  previous  visit  to  Peking  we  had 
become  acquainted  with  most  of  the  missionaries  and  many 
of  the  native  Christians  who  a  few  days  later  were  involved 
in  this  memorable  experience. 

Sir  John  Jordan,  who  sixteen  years  before  had  charge  of 
British  interests  in  Korea,  and  with  whom  we  became  well 
acquainted  in  our  long  forty-day  journey  across  Siberia,  had 
now  become  British  Ambassador  to  China,  and  had  been 
knighted  because  of  his  diplomatic  skill  and  wisdom.  He  re- 
ceived us  most  cordially  and  showed  us  the  wonderful 
Chinese  temple  with  its  many  treasures  .which  had  become 
the  centre  of  the  British  Legation.  It  is  a  marvellous  old 
building  full  of  quaint  and  priceless  carvings  and  decorations 
which  had  been  made  over  into  a  delightful  and  comfortable 
residence  for  the  ambassador.  Lady  Jordan,  a  charming 
hostess,  urged  us  to  stay  to  afternoon  tea  while  Sir  John 
and  I  recounted  the  incidents,  both  grim  and  humorous,  of 
our  long  journey  across  Siberia  in  1900,  which  journey  she  did 
not  share,  having  been  in  Scotland  at  the  time. 


^66  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

The  next  day  the  ambassador  came  to  the  train  to  see  us 
off  on  our  journey  southward.  This  journey,  too,  by  reason 
of  the  miserable  second-class  cars,  the  interminable  waits  at 
various  stations,  and  my  own  ill  health,  was  a  most  trying 
one,  but  after  two  days  and  a  night  we  reached  Shanghai  and 
were  made  welcome  by  Judge  Lobingier  at  his  pleasant  home 
in  the  outskirts  of  the  city. 

As  we  approached  Shanghai  we  seemed  to  go  from  late 
winter  into  a  late  spring.  Peach  trees  were  in  full  bloom  and 
the  country  was  smiling  and  attractive  in  its  blossoms  and  its 
greenery.  But  nowhere  in  China  can  you  get  away  from  the 
graves.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  you  cannot  look  out 
of  the  car  window  for  five  consecutive  minutes  without  seeing 
a  graveyard,  sometimes  a  large  and  elaborate  one  with  many 
mounds  and  horse-shoe  enclosures  of  stone  j  sometimes  only  a 
single  mound  marked  by  a  pathetic  little  memorial  tag  or  a 
piece  of  mock  money  placed  there  in  order  that  the  deceased 
might  have  the  wherewithal  to  pay  his  fare  on  the  other  shore. 
Graves,  graves,  graves!  China  seems  to  be  a  land  of  the 
dead  rather  than  of  the  living,  and  yet  when  one  enters  the 
narrow,  bustling  streets  of  a  Chinese  city,  or  even  of  a  consider- 
able village,  one  wonders  how  there  can  be  room  enough  in  all 
China  even  to  bury  the  teeming  millions  who  are  very 
thoroughly  alive  and  most  energetically  active. 

The  same  day  in  the  afternoon  we  went  on  to  Hangchow, 
our  principal  convention  destination,  but  ill  fortune  seemed 
to  pursue  us  all  the  way,  for  because  of  some  delay  in  the 
train  from  Nanking,  we  lost  the  train  on  which  we  were 
expected  to  arrive  in  Hangchow,  and  we  reached  the  national 
convention  city  after  dark,  and  only  just  before  the  evening 
service  of  the  convention.  On  the  way,  however,  we  had 
heard  of  the  large  and  fine  gathering  of  Endeavorers,  and 
how  the  celebrated  Dr.  Main  on  his  scarcely  less  famous  white 
horse  had  led  the  long  parade  to  an  ancient  pagoda  on  the 
hill-top    for   an   afternoon   outing.      Dr.    and    Mrs.    Judson, 


THE    CHINA    OF    YUAN    SHI    KAI  567 

veteran  Presbyterian  missionaries,  opened  their  hospitable  doors 
to  us  for  a  couple  of  days,  as  we  supposed,  but  for  more  than 
four  weeks  as  it  actually  proved  to  be. 

By  the  time  we  reached  Hangchow  I  was  feeling  miserably 
ill,  but  determined  to  go  to  the  meeting  whatever  it  might 
cost.  I  was  able  to  speak  about  ten  minutes  to  the  assembled 
Endeavorers,  bring  them  greetings  from  America  and  from 
Japan  and  Korea,  and  then  went  back  to  the  Judsons'  home 
and  to  bed,  where  I  stayed  for  nearly  a  month  except  for  a 
few  intervals  of  an  hour  or  two  between  the  days  of  fever 
and  suffering. 

My  wife  was  able  to  attend  and  speak  at  some  of  the 
Endeavor  meetings  the  next  day,  which  was  Sunday,  the  last 
day  of  the  convention.  Dr.  Main,  of  whom  I  have 
spoken,  is  at  the  head  of  a  famous  hospital  of  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  of  England,  himself  a  genial  Scotchman, 
whose  unfailing  motto  is,  "  Keep  Smiling."  He  was  most 
attentive,  calling  every  day  and  sometimes  twice  or  thrice  a 
day,  and  doing  his  best  to  relieve  my  sufferings  with  calomel, 
Epsom  salts,  and  other  old-fashioned  remedies,  which  were 
the  only  things  that  gave  any  relief. 

Other  friends,  whose  kindness  we  can  never  forget,  were 
Rev.  and  Mrs.  Edgar  E.  Strother,  the  joint  field-secretaries  of 
the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  in  China,  a  most  self-sacri- 
ficing and  devoted  couple.  They  stayed  with  us  throughout 
those  weary  four  weeks  and  were  untiring  in  their  efforts  to 
relieve  the  monotony  and  the  suffering  of  the  sick-room.  I 
was  able  to  leave  the  financial  arrangements  for  our  board 
and  our  passage  home  with  them.  The  steamer  on  which  we 
expected  to  sail  for  Japan  got  away  on  schedule  time,  but, 
alas,  we  ,were  not  among  her  passengers,  as  we  had  fully  ex- 
pected to  be,  and  steamer  after  steamer  sailed  without  us,  to 
our  sore  disappointment. 

On  the  night  of  April  I2,  very  early  in  the  morning,  we 
heard  the  firing  of  several  heavy  guns  and  said  to  each  other. 


568  MEMORIES    OF     MANY    MEN     IN    MANY    LANDS 

with  little  idea  that  we  were  stating  a  fact,  that  "  a  revolution 
must  be  on,"  though  we  knew  that  the  Chekiang  Province, 
of  which  Hangchow  is  the  capital,  had  been  threatening 
to  revolt  against  the  pretensions  of  Yuan  Shi  Kai,  and  the 
military  party  of  the  north. 

When  daylight  came,  and  the  good  doctor  made  his  daily 
call,  we  found  that  the  revolution  was  no  joke,  that  the  inde- 
pendence of  Chekiang  had  been  proclaimed,  the  governor  de- 
posed, and  a  new  republic  set  up.  There  were  also  rumors 
that  the  northern  soldiers  were  marching  against  Hangchow 
from  Shanghai,  which  was  still  loyal  to  the  old  regime.  We 
learned  that  the  railway  had  been  torn  up  in  places  to  prevent 
the  approach  of  the  northern  troops,  and  that  communication 
with  Shanghai  and  the  rest  of  the  world  was  absolutely  out 
of  the  question,  except  by  a  long  and  dangerous  journey  on  the 
Grand  Canal,  which  itself  might  be  in  the  hands  of  the  enemies 
of  Chekiang  for  all  we  knew. 

However  there  was  nothing  to  do  but  to  grin  and  bear  it. 
I  was  too  ill  to  go  if  there  had  been  the  best  railway  accommo- 
dations in  the  world,  and  it  was  impossible  to  leave  Hangchow 
if  I  had  been  as  strong  as  Samson.  On  the  whole,  it  was  the 
most  orderly  and  peaceful  revolution  that  ever  took  place. 
Except  for  the  disturbance  at  the  Governor's  yamen  there  was 
no  turmoil  or  looting,  and  no  drop  of  blood  was  shed. 

A  hundred  times  more  rioting  and  disturbance,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  slaughter,  occurred  in  the  police  strike  in  Boston 
in  1 919  than  in  this  revolution  of  a  great  province  whose 
capital  contains  nearly  a  million  souls.  The  police  and 
gendarmes  went  about  their  business  as  though  nothing  had 
happened,  and  "  business  as  usual  "  seemed  to  be  the  universal 
motto. 

Unlike  the  Boxer  Rebellion  of  sixteen  years  before,  whose 
incipient  threatenings  we  had  seen,  the  revolution  of  19 16  was 
not  directed  against  the  foreigners.  The  missionaries  were 
held  in  highest  esteem.     Dr.  Main  was  consulted  by  the  new 


THE    CHINA    OF    YUAN    SHI    KAI  569 

officials,  and  many  of  them  desired  to  send  their  superfluous 
luggage  for  safe  keeping  to  the  missionary  compounds,  .which 
in  some  places  were  piled  high  with  trunks  and  impedimenta 
of  all  kinds.  Many,  in  the  early  days  of  the  revolution, 
took  refuge  in  the  compound  of  the  missionary  hospital,  fear- 
ing the  rioting  and  disorder  which  did  not  come. 

My  opinion  of  the  self-restraint  and  good  sense  of  the 
Chinese  was  increased  a  hundred  per  cent  by  these  incidents, 
and  contrary  to  what  is  often  said  that  the  mass  of  the  Chinese 
care  little  under  what  government  they  live,  I  believe  that 
the  majority  of  the  people  wanted  a  democratic  government 
and  desired  to  defeat  the  machinations  of  the  upstart  emperor. 

The  weary  days  followed  one  another  slowly  enough,  while 
steamer  after  steamer  which  we  vainly  hoped  to  take,  sailed 
from  the  port  of  Shanghai,  and  I  was  too  sick  to  be  moved 
even  if  the  rebellion  had  allowed  free  exit  from  the  city. 
Fortunately  the  Endeavorers  had  all  returned  to  their  homes 
before  rail  communication  was  intercepted.  That  so  many 
hundreds  came  to  the  convention  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they 
knew  the  rebellion  had  been  scheduled  for  April  8,  the  day 
before  the  convention  closed,  was  a  testimony  to  the  devotion 
and  courage  of  these  faithful  Christians.  Fortunately,  whether 
or  not  the  ringleaders  desired  to  give  the  Endeavorers  a  chance 
to  leave  the  city,  the  uprising  was  delayed  for  a  couple  of 
days  beyond  the  appointed  time  which  persistent  rumor  had 
set  for  it. 

Occasionally,  for  a  day  or  two,  I  would  feel  better,  the 
fever  would  decrease,  hope  which  "  springs  eternal  "  would 
revive,  and  it  seemed  as  though  we  might  get  away  if  the 
rebels  would  allow  it.  Once  I  was  able  to  take  a  short 
jinrikisha  ride  through  the  busy  and  attractive  streets  where 
are  many  stores  of  wealthy  and  prosperous  merchants,  and 
once  I  was  allowed  to  get  so  far  as  to  Dr.  Main's  summer 
home  by  the  lakeside,  two  or  three  miles  from  the  centre, 
for  a  social  tea  with  a  few  missionary  friends. 


570 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 


Hangchow  is  very  proud  of  its  West  Lake,  on  which  the 
city  borders.  It  is  indeed  a  beautiful  sheet  of  water.  Here 
are  pleasure  boats  and  little  island  resorts  and  suggestions  that 
tell  us  that  sometimes  China  plays  as  well  as  works,  which 
foreign  travellers  are  slow  to  believe.  The  convention  dele- 
gates greatly  enjoyed  an  excursion  on  the  lake  as  well  as  to  the 
pagoda  which  stands  prominently  on  the  hill  above  the  lake. 
This  pagoda  had  been  given,  I  was  told,  to  Dr.  Main  by  the 
city  in  recognition  of  his  valued  services,  but  he  had  returned 


West  Lake,  Hangchow 
Where  the  Christain  Endeavor  Convention  of  China  in  1916  enjoyed  a  picnic. 

it  to  the  municipality  for  good  and  sufficient  reasons.    He  was 
the  only  missionary,  I  believe,  who  ever  owned  a  pagoda. 

At  last,  on  May  5,  after  a  month  in  Hangchow,  though 
feeling  far  from  well,  we  started  for  Shanghai  by  the  Grand 
Canal,  a  twenty-four-hour  journey  in  a  comfortable  house- 
boat. An  especially  easy  sedan  chair  was  provided  for  me  for 
the  five-mile  trip  through  the  city  to  the  Canal,  and  every- 
thing was  done  by  my  kind  friends  to  make  the  journey  as 
comfortable  and  safe  as  possible.  Dr.  Main  seemed  a  sort 
of  wizard,  who  could  command  boats  and  boatmen,  and  beds 
and  bedding  and  provisions  at  a  moment's  notice. 


THE    CHINA    OF    YUAN    SHI    KAI 


571 


There  were  six  of  us,  including  one  young  Chinese  lady, 
in  the  little  party  on  the  canal  journey,  and  the  houseboat  was 
pulled  by  a  small  steamer  which  had  a  convoy  of  one  or  two 
other  boats  besides  our  own.  The  houseboat  in  front  of  us 
was  occupied  by  a  Chinese  family,  whose  performance  of  all 
their  household  duties  and  operations  they  did  not  seek  to 
screen  from  the  eyes  of  the  public.  A  little  slavey,  who  was 
perhaps  the  daughter-in-law  of  the  old  couple,  and  the  wife 


A  Common  Mode  of  Travel  in  China 

of  one  of  the  strapping  young  men,  seemed  to  have  all  the 
mean  and  dirty  work  put  upon  her,  and  she  toiled  for  sixteen 
hours  a  day  with  apparently  no  interruption.  Evidently  the 
suggestion  of  servants'  unions  and  strikes  had  not  reached 
China. 

The  scenery  was  pleasing  rather  than  grand.  The  rich 
shores  on  either  side  were  teeming  with  a  luxuriant  growth  of 
grains  and  vegetables.  Huge  water  buffaloes  came  down  to 
drink  or  wallow  in  the  shallows  of  the  Canal.  Occasionally 
we  passed  teeming  towns,  multitudes  crowding  the  narrow 
streets,  which  gave  us  some  idea  of  the  vast  population  which 


572 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 


this  wonderful  Canal  serves.  The  Grand  Canal,  well  named 
indeed,  connects  Tientsin  with  Hangchow.  It  was  open  for 
traffic  more  than  six  hundred  years  ago,  and  was  described  with 
much  accuracy  by  that  hardy  Venetian  explorer,  Marco  Polo. 
At  times  it  widens  out  into  small  lakes.  Indeed  in  the  hundreds 
of  miles  of  its  course  it  connects  many  lakes.  The  Erie 
canal  is  a  pigmy  beside  it. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  sights  was  the  fishing  boats. 
Do  not  suppose,  however,  that  they  were  equipped  with  nets 


Fishing  with  Cormorants  in  China 

and  hooks  and  lines,  or  spears.  Each  boat  held  one  or  two 
fishermen,  but  chiefly  a  solemn  row  of  cormorants  on  its  edge, 
often  a  dozen  or  more  of  them.  When  the  sharp  eyes  of  these 
feathered  fishermen  spied  their  prey,  they  darted  for  it  with 
unerring  aim,  and  at  once  flew  back  to  the  boat  bearing  their 
trophies.  A  ring  around  their  necks  prevents  them  from 
swallowing,  but  it  does  not  prevent  their  breathing  apparatus 
from  working.  We  hoped  that  these  faithful  birds  were  re- 
warded for  their  trouble,  but  probably  only  with  the  heads  and 
tails  and  entrails  of  the  fish  they  so  patiently  and  loyally 
brought  to  their  masters.     For  hundreds,  perhaps  thousands 


THE    CHINA    OF    YUAN    SHI    KAI  573 

of  years,  this  odd  practice  has  prevailed  in  China,  and  doubt- 
less has  afforded  as  much  amusement  as  well  as  profit  to  many 
generations  of  Orientals  as  did  the  trained  hunting  falcons  to 
our  European  ancestors  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

About  noon  of  the  second  day  we  reached  Shanghai,  a 
hundred  miles  or  so  from  Hangchow,  and  our  boat  was  tied 
up  to  a  pier  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  amid  ten  thousand  other 
craft  of  all  kinds  and  sizes.  We  were  made  welcome  by  Dr. 
Mary  Fulton,  a  member  of  the  celebrated  Cantonese  missionary 
family,  who  was  giving  her  time  to  the  translation  of  certain 
medical  books  into  Chinese.  At  the  same  time  she  has  helped 
to  establish  a  church  for  the  Cantonese  Christians,  among 
whom  she  was  brought  up.  They  abound  in  some  parts  of 
Shanghai  and  still  speak  their  own  dialect. 

China,  like  the  rest  of  the  world,  was  of  course  very  much 
excited  by  the  European  war,  though  she  had  troubles  enough 
of  her  own  in  all  conscience.  Feeling  had  in  19 16  set  strongly 
against  the  numerous  German  residents  of  Shanghai.  They 
were  boycotted,  ostracised,  and  even  turned  out  of  the  clubs  of 
which  they  had  long  been  members.  Official  China,  however, 
was  wavering  as  to  whether  she  should  cast  in  her  lot  with 
Germany  or  the  Allies,  for  it  then  looked  as  though  the 
Teutons* would  be  victorious. 

It  was  not  until  the  United  States  decided  to  enter  the  war, 
and  politely  asked  China  to  join  her  that  she  decided  to  cast 
in  her  lot  with  the  Allies. 

At  last  we  sailed  for  Japan,  hoping  at  least  to  get  so  far 
on  our  homeward  way,  though  a  very  ill  turn  on  one  night 
of  the  voyage  made  our  arrival  even  in  Japan  seem  problem- 
atical. Ho.wever,  the  Yellow  Sea  was  on  the  whole  kind  to 
us,  much  kinder  than  on  previous  journeys,  and  after  three 
days  we  arrived  in  Kobe  and  took  refuge  in  a  small  but  com- 
fortable hotel,  not  wishing  to  burden  our  hospitable  missionary 
friends  with  an  invalid,  though  we  were  frequently  upbraided 
by  them  for  not  doing  so. 


574 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 


Now  our  great  anxiety  was  to  get  passage  on  some  steamer 
for  America.  All,  we  were  told,  were  overcrowded,  and  pas- 
sages had  to  be  engaged  months  in  advance.  Three  or  four 
steamers  on  which  we  had  hoped  to  return  and  had  tentatively 
engaged  passage  had  come  and  gone  without  us,  and  we  were 
almost  in  despair  about  getting  away  from  Japan,  where  we 
should  have  been  so  glad  to  have  had  two  weeks  for  the  holi- 
day for  which  we  had  planned  if  increasing  illness  had  not 
prevented. 


Another  Method  of  Going  to  a  Convention 

We  had  almost  given  up  hope  of  getting  passage  on  any 
steamer,  when  some  good  angel  intervened  in  our  behalf  and 
greatly  to  our  joy  we  were  offered  a  small  cabin  on  the  "  Em- 
press of  Russia,"  one  of  the  fine  Canadian  Pacific  steamers 
plying  between  Japan  and  Vancouver.  With  some  difficulty  I 
was  transferred  from  my  bed  to  the  steamer,  and  seemed 
somewhat  better  during  the  twelve  days'  voyage  to  America's 
shores.  Even  there  our  troubles  did  not  end,  for  the  round- 
trip  tickets  which  we  had  bought  before  leaving  home,  obliged 
us  to  return  over  the  Santa  Fe  Route,  and  compelled  the  long 


THE    CHINA    OF    YUAN    SHI    KAI  575 

overland  journey  from  Vancouver  to  Southern  California  be- 
fore we  could  fairly  start  for  home. 

Many  miserable  days  were  passed  on  this  long  railway  trip 
though  there  were  short  intervals  of  comparative  physical  com- 
fort and  we  were  glad  enough  when  we  reached  Chicago.  It 
was  a  question  of  some  difficulty  to  decide  whether  I  should 
go  to  a  hospital  or  a  hotel  in  Chicago,  or  should  venture,  ill 
as  I  was  with  a  raging  fever,  to  take  the  further  journey  to 
Boston.  Finding  it  possible  to  get  a  stateroom  on  the 
Twentieth  Century  Limited,  we  finally  decided  to  risk  it,  and 
as  soon  as  the  porter  could  make  up  my  bed  I  was  once  more 
on  my  back  for  the  twenty-six  hours'  journey  to  Massachusetts. 


Chapter    L 
Years  19 16—19 17 

CLIMBING   UP  HILL  DIFFICULTY  TO 
HEALTHVILLE 


A    MONTH    IN    HOSPITAL AMERICA    IN    THE    WAR ANXIOUS 

DAYS    FOR    THE    WORLD  IN    FLOWERY    FLORIDA HOW 

A    PURITAN    HOME    RENEWED    ITS    YOUTH. 

T  CAN  well  be  imagined  that,  after  this  long 
and  distressing  journey,  I  was  glad  to  find 
myself  at  Sagamore  at  last,  even  though  only 
half  alive. 

My  youngest  son,  Sydney  Aylmer,  had 
been  waiting  impatiently  for  my  return  that 
I  might  perform  the  marriage  ceremony  which  should  unite 
him  to  Miss  Margaret  Elliott  of  Newton  Centre.  I  arrived 
only  a  day  or  two  before  the  appointed  time,  and  rising  from 
my  bed  was  barely  able  to  dress  for  the  occasion  and  tie  the 
hymeneal  knot,  I  hope  sure  and  fast,  and  then  get  me  back 
to  bed  again. 

Local  doctors,  as  well  as  those  across  the  seas,  seemed  to  be 
much  puzzled  by  my  illness.  One  of  them,  knowing  nothing 
better  to  do,  suggested  a  long  course  of  Vitalait  as  a  possible 
help,  but  it  proved  to  be  as  useless  as  all  the  other  medicines 
which  I  had  poured  down  a  patient  throat  during  the  many 
previous  months.  When  every  known  remedy  had  been  ex- 
hausted I  felt  that  it  was  time  to  consult  a  specialist,  which  I 
should  have  done  long  before.  This  specialist  was  a  cele- 
brated diagnostician.  Dr.  Josslyn  of  Boston,  who,  without 
hesitation,  at  once  pronounced  it  to  be  a  serious  case  of  gall 

576 


CLIMBING    UP    HILL    DIFFICULTY  577 

stones,   frequently  an   aftermath   of  typhoid   fever,   and  an- 
nounced that  I  must  at  once  have  an  operation. 

The  whole  summer  had  been  a  long  series  of  excruciating 
days  of  pain  —  coming  about  once  a  week,  and  leaving  me 
dazed  and  exhausted  for  several  days,  until  another  attack 
was  due.  When  September  came,  and  with  it  Dr.  Josslyn's 
advice,  I  was  glad  to  undergo  any  operation  which  promised 
even  a  remote  chance  of  life  and  health.  On  September  29, 
therefore,  at  Corey  Hill  Hospital  in  Brookline,  the  operation 
was  performed  by  Dr.  Fred  B.  Lund,  a  skilful  surgeon  who 
had  given  special  attention  to  such  troubles.  For  three  or  four 
days,  I  am  told,  my  life  hung  on  a  hair,  while  on  October  3, 
the  fortieth  anniversary  of  our  wedding  day,  I  almost  passed 
over  the  river  after  a  very  severe  chill  accompanied  by  nausea 
and  hours  of  distressing  hiccoughs,  followed  by  a  sinking  spell, 
from  which  I  was  with  difficulty  revived. 

That  seemed  to  be  the  crisis,  for  from  that  time  on,  step  by 
step,  I  began  to  climb  my  Hill  Difficulty  back  to  health  again. 
It  was  a  great  comfort  that  my  dear  wife  could  be  with  me 
almost  all  the  time  in  the  hospital,  as  she  was  allowed  to  occupy 
at  night  a  room  in  the  Nurses'  Home  near-by.  Dr.  Lund 
proved  to  be  not  only  a  skilful  surgeon  but  a  kindly  and 
jovial  friend,  who  relieved  the  weary  hours  with  frequent 
visits.  He  was  also  a  great  lover  of  Horace,  himself  a  poet 
withal,  and  frequently  read  to  me  translations  of  one  of  the 
Latin  poet's  odes,  which  he  had  achieved  in  the  intervals  of  a 
very  extensive  practice. 

Such  an  experience  gives  one  a  realizing  sense  of  the  value 
of  friends  and  surprises  one  constantly  with  the  thought  that 
he  has  so  many  more  than  he  suspected.  The  daily  papers 
seemed  to  keep  the  people  who  were  at  all  interested  in  the 
matter  informed  about  my  progress  towards  health,  and 
flowers  and  fruit  and  letters  of  sympathy  and  later  visits  from 
my  children  and  other  friends  made  the  slow  days  of  recovery 
much  brighter  than  they  otherwise  would  have  been. 


578  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

I  must  not  forget  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Jacob  J.  Arakelyan, 
whose  limousine  was  at  my  service  in  going  to  the  hospital  and 
returning  to  our  home  on  Pinckney  Street,  and  on  many  other  | 

occasions.  Mr.  Arakelyan  is  a  remarkable  example  of  a  man 
who,  amid  the  greatest  difficulties,  can  by  persistence,  good 
judgment  and  fair  dealing,  make  his  way  in  America.  Coming 
from  Armenia,  where  he  was  born  under  the  shadow  of  Mt.  ; 

Ararat,  as  a  lad  of  eighteen  years,  he  sought  at  once  the  com-  j 

panionship  of  Christian  people,  and  by  industry  and  thrift  i 

accumulated  a  very  comfortable  fortune  in  the  printing  busi-  , 

ness,    becoming,    eventually,    the    proprietor   of    one    of   the  . 

largest  printing  establishments  in  Boston.    He  is  as  benevolent  i 

as  he  is  prosperous,  and  gives  largely  to  charities  of  all  kinds,  ; 

the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  being  one  of  his  especial  j 

interests.  A  conditional  gift  from  him  of  ten  thousand  dollars 
was  one  of  the  larger  sums  which  enabled  us  to  complete  the  j 

beautiful  building,  which  now  stands  on  the  corner  of  Mt. 
Vernon  and  Joy  Streets,  and  of  which  I  shall  speak  later. 

These  trying  experiences  enabled  me  to  realize  more  fully 
the  goodness  of  my  Father  in  Heaven,  and  also,  I  hope,  to  ' 

devote  my  life  more  unreservedly  to  His  service.  ] 

In  the  early  spring  of  19 17  came  more  and  more  exciting 
news  concerning  the  war.  I  need  not  rehearse  the  political 
story  of  the  sad  years  that  followed.  \ 

The  most  important  and  practical  thing  seemed  to  be  to 
encourage  among  the  Christian  Endeavorers  food-production 
and  conservation  for  a  half-starved  world.  A  Christian 
Endeavor  Peace  Union,  which  had  been  a  popular  organization 
in  the  early  days  of  the  war,  like  other  peace  societies  naturally 
fell  into  abeyance,  and  the  "  Christian  Endeavor  Army  of 
Universal  Patriotic  Service  "  took  its  place.  I  drew  up  the 
constitution  of  such  an  "  Army,"  which  was  widely  adopted 
by  many  unions,  and  the  Endeavorers  all  over  the  country 
went  to  work  with  a  will  to  plant  war-gardens  in  the  spring, 
and  to  preserve  their  fruits  by  canning  and  preserving  and 


CLIMBING    UP    HILL    DIFFICULTY  579 

drying  in  the  fall.  Tens  o£  thousands  of  such  gardens  were 
planted,  it  is  believed,  and  warm  commendations  for  these 
efforts  were  received,  not  only  from  the  National  War-Garden 
Commission  in  Washington,  but  from  President  Wilson,  Mr. 
Herbert  Hoover,  and  others. 

I  must  not  forget  to  state  that  in  this  work  I  was  greatly 
encouraged  by  Mr.  Charles  Pack,  the  president  of  the  War- 
Garden  Commission  of  the  Government,  who  gave  me  $500 
to  start  the  campaign.  My  college  friend,  Samuel  W.  McCall, 
who  was  then  governor  of  Massachusetts,  obtained  from  a 
special  State  fund  which  he  administered,  $1,000  for  the  same 
purpose.  My  youngest  son,  Sydney,  who  was  in  the  United 
Society  office  for  a  few  weeks  at  that  time,  also  did  his  best  to 
obtain  funds  for  this  purpose,  and  was  chiefly  successful  among 
his  own  friends  and  mine,  so  that  in  all  several  thousands  of 
dollars  were  obtained,  which  were  expended  for  literature  and 
correspondence  in  such  a  way  that  it  is  believed  that  millions 
of  dollars  worth  of  fruits  and  vegetables  were  raised  and  con- 
served by  the  Endeavorers  for  a  needy  world. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  in  spite  of  the  horrors  of  war,  and 
the  departure  of  multitudes  of  young  men,  the  Christian  En- 
deavor societies,  as  I  afterwards  learned,  flourished  con- 
tinually in  Germany.  The  five  hundred  societies  increased  to 
seven  hundred,  and  at  the  close  of  the  war  many  more  field- 
secretaries  were  employed  than  at  the  beginning,  and  the  many 
publications  concerning  the  society  were  kept  up  and  even 
increased. 

To  turn  from  the  war  to  personal  affairs  —  during  the 
earlier  weeks  of  1917  with  Mrs.  Clark's  help  I  revised  for 
publication  my  book  entitled  "  In  the  Footsteps  of  St.  Paul," 
which  G.  P.  Putnam  had  decided  to  issue.  I  shall  have  to 
confess  that  during  my  long  illness  I  had  become  rather  dis- 
couraged about  the  whole  affair,  but  by  the  persistence  and 
assistance  of  my  wife,  who  copied  on  her  typewriter  the  whole 
of  the  long  manuscript,  it  was  put  into  decent  shape  for  the 


580  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

publishers,  and  was  issued  in  the  fall  of  that  year,  a  comely 
volume  of  over  four  hundred  pages,  with  many  illustrations. 
It  received  unusually  hearty  commendations  from  the  press, 
but  those  days  of  ,war  excitement  were  fatal  to  any  volume  that 
did  not  deal  directly  or  remotely  with  guns  and  aeroplanes. 
The  sales  were  not  large,  but  I  hope  it  may  have  some  perma- 
nent value. 

My  friends  in  the  south  decided  that  nothing  could  be  so 
good  for  my  health  as  a  sojourn  in  Florida,  and  very  kindly 
raised  the  necessary  funds  for  the  visit. 

On  the  way  we  saw  something  of  Washington  in  war  times, 
or  in  times  immediately  previous  to  our  declaration  of  war, 
which  were  scarcely  less  exciting  than  the  days  that  followed. 
I  remember  nothing,  however,  of  the  debates  in  the  Senate, 
which  seemed  to  be  taken  up  with  inconsequential  wrangling, 
and  Washington  sights  being  somewhat  familiar,  we  pushed  on 
to  Florida.  Daytona  on  the  east  coast  has  a  lovely  climate 
for  a  convalescent,  and  we  enjoyed  a  few  weeks  there,  and 
quite  as  much  a  little  visit  in  charming  Deland,  where  we  were 
the  guests  of  that  good  friend  and  ardent  lover  of  Christian 
Endeavor,  Mrs.  Carrie  Conrad. 

Mrs.  Clark  had  carried  in  her  trunk  her  constant  companion, 
a  little  Blickensderfer  typewriter,  which  she  had  named  in  her 
quaintly  humorous  fashion,  "  Kezia,"  after  one  of  the 
daughters  of  Job,  because  it  was  a  patient  creature  always 
ready  to  do  her  bidding. 

Many  of  her  belongings,  by  the  way,  like  trunks  and  suit- 
cases, as  well  as  the  animals  and  chickens  upon  the  old  farm, 
had  names  of  her  invention.  "  Darby  and  Joan  "  were  the 
two  steamer  trunks  that  had  faithfully  accompanied  us  on 
many  long  journeys  over  many  seas.  An  enormous  accordion 
suit-case  was  appropriately  called  "  Jumbo,"  while  its  smaller 
companions  also  had  names  of  their  own.  The  Jersey  cow 
on  the  farm  was  known  as  "  My  Irene,  the  Village  Queen," 
named  by  Mrs.  Clark  after  the  lady  of  a  popular  song  of  the 


CLIMBING    UP     HILL    DIFFICULTY  58I 

day.  Irene's  calf  rejoiced  in  the  name  of  "  Florence  Nightin- 
gale," and  another  of  her  children  is  "  Mary  Lyon."  The 
Angora  goat  which  was  Mary's  affectionate  and  inseparable 
companion,  was  "  Imogene."  Most  of  the  hens  and  chickens 
were  named  after  the  children  and  grandchildren  of  the  family, 
and  some  for  famous  people,  like  the  big  rooster,  "  Christopher 
Columbus,"  and  some  for  characters  in  books  which  we  had 
lately  read.  The  big  pig  ,was  named  "  Onesima,"  being  the 
feminine  of  Onesimus.  Students  of  the  Bible  will  under- 
stand the  significance  of  the  name  when  they  remember  the 
high  price  of  pork  in  war  times. 

But  to  return  to  Florida,  after  this  digression.  Mr.  Duncan 
Curry,  the  chairman  of  the  All-South  Christian  Endeavor 
Committee,  who  was  afterwards  a  lieutenant  in  the  European 
war,  had  written  to  our  friend  Mrs.  Conrad  that  Mrs.  Clark 
would  take  with  her  a  typewriter  and  hoped  that  "  Kezia  " 
would  not  be  too  noisy.  Our  good  friend,  not  being  acquainted 
with  Mrs.  Clark's  penchant  for  naming  all  her  belongings, 
prepared  for  Kezia  a  beautiful  room  with  a  fine  outlook  and 
comfortable  sleeping-porch,  and  was  greatly  surprised  and 
amused  to  find  that  Kezia  did  not  appreciate  the  beautiful 
room,  and  ,was  contented  to  sleep  on  a  table. 

This  had  been  a  hard  winter  for  Florida.  Much  of  the 
fruit  had  been  killed  by  an  untimely  frost,  and  acres  and 
acres  of  orange  and  grapefruit  orchards  were  covered  with  a 
yellow  carpet  of  decaying  fruit  which  had  to  be  removed  at 
large  expense,  lest  the  ground  be  made  sour  and  unfit  for  use. 

Still"  the  Florida  people  were  by  no  means  discouraged,  for 
they  had  had  many  prosperous  years  since  the  last  great  frost, 
a  hard  winter  when  I  also  happened  to  be  in  Florida.  Then 
an  orange  tree  with  any  fruit  upon  it  was  in  most  parts  of  the 
State  a  rare  sight  indeed,  and  most  of  the  trees  were  killed 
to  their  roots.  During  these  twenty  years  since  the  "  great 
freeze,"  Florida  had  wonderfully  improved.  Nothern  capital 
had   built   fine   railroads   and   planted   innumerable   orchards. 


582 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 


Local  enterprise  had  been  stimulated,  and  some  counties  were 
spending  millions  on  long  stretches  of  the  "  Dixie  Highway," 
a  fine  brick  road,  which  made  travelling  a  comfort  and  luxury. 
The  early  truck  gardens,  enormous  strawberry  beds,  winter 
tourists,  and  the  turpentine  forests,  vied  with  the  orange  groves 
in  pouring  wealth  into  the  laps  of  the  lucky  Floridians. 

I  have  already  referred  to  our  old  farmhouse.  During  the 
fall  of  1916  and  the  spring  of  191 7,  this  historic  farmhouse 
near  Sagamore  Beach,  originally  built  in  1690  by  one  of  the 


Mrs.  Clark,  her  Twin  Grandchildren,  and  her  Chickens 
At  the  Old  Farmhouse  at  Sagamore  Beach,  Mass. 

second  generation  of  Pilgrims,  was  remodeled,  greatly  to  our 
satisfaction,  and  thither  we  moved  our  furniture  and  many  of 
our  books  from  Auburndale  and  from  the  storage  warehouse. 
At  first  it  had  seemed  that  it  was  impossible  to  repair  the  old 
house,  so  disreputable  had  it  become  through  long  years  of 
neglect,  but  its  bones  were  sound,  and  the  broad  beams  and 
floor  boards,  hewed  out  of  sturdy  oak  more  than  two  centuries 
before,  showed  no  signs  of  decay. 

A  skilful  architect,  Mr.  Rowland  S.  Chandler,  of  Boston, 
kept  the  original  lines,  but  changed  the  location  of  the  kitchen 


CLIMBING    UP    HILL    DIFFICULTY  583 

and  living-room  doors,  found  place  for  a  bathroom,  relaid  one 
or  two  floors  which  were  impossible  to  repair,  designed  trel- 
lises for  roses  and  grapevines,  painted  all  tastefully,  and  alto- 
gether made  a  charming  residence  out  of  the  old  Colonial 
house,  which  had  seemed  to  have  come  to  its  last  days. 

To  be  sure,  the  ceilings  are  low,  and  some  of  the  floors  are 
uneven,  but,  with  appropriate  old-fashioned  paper  on  the  walls, 
abundant  book-cases  built  in,  and  storage  facilities  for  the 
curiosities  and  mementoes  we  had  brought  from  foreign  lands, 
the  farmhouse  has  a  charm  for  us  that  is  all  its  own. 

From  several  of  our  ancestors  much  old-fashioned  furniture 
which  well  befits  the  house  had  come,  some  of  it  from  my 
adopted  mother's  great-grandfather.  General  Artemas  Ward, 
the  first  commander  of  the  Revolutionary  Army.  Other  relics 
that  came  from  him,  especially  connected  with  the  evacuation 
of  Boston  by  the  British  when  he  was  in  command  of  the 
American  troops,  are  also  of  much  interest  to  many  of  our 
friends. 

As  I  have  said,  I  have  not  yet  been  able  to  learn  the  history 
of  the  old  house,  but  in  its  earliest  days  it  evidently  belonged 
to  a  well-to-do  family,  for  the  east  front  room,  apparently 
used  as  the  best  parlor,  is  ornamented  with  hand-carving  of 
the  rope  pattern,  which  is  the  delight  of  architects  and  anti- 
quaries. Our  chief  joy  and  comfort  is  an  enormous  fireplace, 
one  of  the  six  which  the  house  contained,  and  is  in  the  room 
which  we  use  as  living  and  dining-room.  It  is  seven  feet  wide 
in  front,  and  will  take  in,  at  the  back,  regulation  four-foot 
logs  which  two  men  can  scarcely  carry  in  and  place  on  the 
big  fire-dogs.  Here  we  sit  in  the  spring  and  fall  days,  with 
a  crackling  fire  roaring  up  the  chimney,  quite  as  comfortable, 
except  in  the  coldest  weather,  as  though  the  most  modern  heat- 
ing apparatus  warmed  the  old  house. 

The  thought  of  the  apples  that  must  have  been  roasted,  and 
the  "  roasting-ears "  parched,  and  the  corn  popped  in  this 
old  fireplace,  add  to  the  joys  of  the  evenings  at  the  farm. 


584  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

where  books  and  magazines  and  an  occasional  game  of  dom- 
inoes or  colorito,  make  the  evenings  pass  all  too  quickly. 

In  front  of  the  house  is  an  enormous  grapevine,  which 
every  year  bears  bushels  of  the  old-fashioned  Isabella  grapes, 
and  spreads  over  the  pergola,  which  I  fear  is  an  architectural 
sin  for  a  house  of  the  early  Georges.  The  great  vine  covers 
the  whole  front  with  an  abundant  shade.  From  the  east 
windows  we  can  view  the  sea  and  the  entrance  to  the  Cape 
Cod  Canal,  with  ships  and  barges  constantly  going  in  and  out. 

For  a  better  view,  we  built  at  the  distance  of  a  few  rods 
from  the  house,  a  pretty  and  substantial  Lookout,  which  our 
twin  grandchildren  after  hearing  read  a  missionary  book  on 
China  named  the  "  Place  of  Abiding  Joy."  Here,  sheltered 
by  the  trees  behind,  we  have  a  splendid  panorama  of  marsh 
and  sea,  and  distant  Cape  Cod  shores,  with  the  white  spire  of 
the  church  in  Sandwich  peeping  through  the  trees,  the  great 
chimneys  of  the  old  glass-works  mellowed  by  the  distance,  and 
the  life-saving  station  and  weather  signals  of  Uncle  Sam's  brave 
life-guards  in  the  far  view.  Alas!  in  one  of  the  forest  fires 
for  which  Cape  Cod  is  unhappily  famous,  the  Lookout  was 
burned  down  in  the  spring  of  1922,  and  three  acres  of  pine 
trees  went  with  it.  The  loss  of  the  Lookout  was  made  good, 
however,  by  the  erection  of  a  replica  of  an  old  Cape  Cod 
windmill  tower,  which  affords  not  only  a  fine  Lookout,  but 
two  chambers  for  some  of  our  numerous  grandchildren. 


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Chapter   LI 

Years  1917— 1919 

THE  LATER  YEARS   OF  THE   WORLD   WAR 


ORGANIZING   CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR   ALUMNI  RECEPTION    IN 

MY     BOYHOOD     HOME EFFECT    OF    THE    WAR    ON    THE 

CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR    MOVEMENT THE    SUDDEN     END 

OF  THE  WAR A  SALOONLESS  NATION. 

N  ACCOUNT  of  America's  entrance  into  the 
war,  and  the  restriction  o£  ordinary  traffic, 
it  was  deemed  wise,  almost  at  the  last  minute, 
to  postpone  the  great  biennial  Christian  En- 
deavor Convention  which  for  two  years  we 
had  been  planning  to  hold  in  Madison  Square 
Garden,  New  York  City,  in  19 17.  Naturally  this  was  a  great 
disappointment  to  the  convention  committee  in  New  York,  as 
well  as  to  Endeavorers  everywhere.  But  at  the  time  there 
seemed  no  help  for  it.  Partially  to  take  the  place  of  this 
meeting,  a  conference  of  trustees  and  field-secretaries  was 
held  at  Winona  Lake,  Ind.,  and  was  productive  of  good  re- 
sults. In  the  biennial  message  which  I  am  expected  to  give  at 
these  meetings,  and  in  which  the  suggestions  for  the  pro- 
gramme for  the  next  two  years  are  outlined,  the  most 
important  new  plan  recommended  was  that  of  the  Christian 
Endeavor  Alumni  Association. 

These  associations  or  fellowships  were  to  be  composed  of  the 
graduate  Endeavorers  of  whom  there  are  now  many  millions 
throughout  the  country,  and  were  to  stand  in  the  same  relation 
to  the  movement  at  large  as  the  alumni  of  a  college  to  their 
alma  mater.     I  tried  to  work  out  the  idea  with  considerable 

587 


588  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

detail,  and  it  was  adopted  with  much  enthusiasm,  and  with 
growing  popularity  throughout  the  country  and  in  other  lands 
as  well.  As  I  write  it  has  already  become  a  source  of  consider- 
able revenue  for  the  advancement  of  the  Christian  Endeavor 
cause  throughout  the  world,  and  gives  promise  of  increasing 
usefulness  as  the  years  go  by,  especially  in  bringing  older  and 
younger  former  members  and  present  members  together  under 
the  aegis  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

Two  years  later,  Rev.  Stanley  B.  Vandersall,  field-secretary 
of  the  Ohio  Union,  was  appointed  to  have  charge  of  this  work. 

An  event  of  special  interest  to  me  in  September  of  that  year 
was  a  visit  to  my  boyhood  home  at  Claremont,  N.  H.  The 
new  pastor  of  the  church.  Rev.  Oscar  Peterson,  had  learned 
of  my  early  connection  with  the  church,  and  invited  me  to 
come  on  to  take  part  in  his  ordination,  and  for  a  special  and 
personal  "  Old  Home  "  celebration  on  the  next  day. 

On  reaching  Claremont  I  was  surprised  to  learn  of  the  extent 
of  the  preparations  for  the  occasion.  The  town  was  placarded 
with  flaming  posters  about  "  Claremont's  World-Famous 
Boy,"  who,  by  the  way,  had  advanced  a  full  half  century  be- 
yond his  boyhood,  and  whose  modesty  was  shocked  by  the 
announcements  that  met  him  on  every  side.  But  it  was  well 
meant,  and  the  meetings  in  the  old  church,  of  which  my 
adopted  father  was  once  the  pastor,  as  well  as  the  public  meet- 
ing for  the  citizens  in  the  town  hall,  presided  over  by  Honor- 
able Hosea  Parker,  Claremont's  "Grand  Old  Man,"  were 
more  than  could  be  asked  for  in  the  way  of  cordiality  and 
kindly  reminiscence  of  the  past.  Toasts  were  offered  by 
various  dignitaries  of  the  town,  and  a  beautiful  illuminated 
address  and  a  loving-cup  are  souvenirs  of  the  happy  occasion. 

Beautiful  Ascutney,  "  Bible  Hill,"  "  Flat  Rock,"  and  other 
well-remembered  points  of  interest  reminded  me  of  happy 
boyhood  days,  and  I  was  able  to  call  on  a  few  of  the  aged 
inhabitants  who  were  my  father's  parishioners  and  the  friends 
of  my  boyhood. 


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THE    LATER    YEARS    OF    THE    WORLD    WAR  59 1 

111  these  days  of  course  the  World  War  occupied  most  o£  our 
waking  thoughts  and  troubled  our  dreams  as  well.  At  times  it 
seemed  as  though  Germany  would  surely  win,  then  again  came 
bright  days  for  the  Allies,  but  all  were  days  of  anxiety  and 
foreboding.  Our  oldest  son  Eugene  went  to  Plattsburg  to  the 
Officers'  Training  Camp,  graduated  as  a  second  lieutenant,  and 
was  assigned  to  Rochester  University  as  personnel  officer.  All 
the  colleges  had  been  turned  practically  into  war-camps,  and 
military  rule  was  supreme.  Dr.  Rush  Rees,  the  president  of 
Rochester  University,  told  me  that  he  was  exceedingly  glad  to 
have  a  man  of  academic  training  and  instincts  assigned  to  his 
college,  since  some  of  the  military  men  sent  to  certain  institu- 
tions were  arrogant  and  overbearing,  and  gave  the  presidents 
or  professors,  who  were  obliged  to  play  second  fiddle  to  them, 
a  most  uncomfortable  time. 

During  these  months,  too,  sad  news  came  to  me  from  across 
the  water.  In  iGfreat  Britain  the  majority  of  Endeavorers  of 
military  age  had  gone  to  the  front.  The  youngest  son  of 
Rev.  John  Pollock,  the  president  of  the  European  Union,  who 
had  twice  visited  us  in  America,  was  reported  missing.  His 
father  has  never  been  able  to  learn  his  fate.  He  was  doubt- 
less killed  early  in  the  war.  Another  son  was  an  officer  in  the 
navy,  and  his  daughter,  now  a  missionary  in  Formosa,  a  Red 
Cross  nurse.  Mr.  Pollock  has  told  me  that  the  dead  boy 
never  harbored  any  ill  feelings  against  the  German  people, 
but  as  individuals  liked  them  better  than  the  French.  Thou- 
sands of  the  leading  families  in  Great  Britain  suffered  like 
bereavements. 

In  America,  too,  the  societies  of  Christian  Endeavor  suffered 
greatly  from  the  loss  of  young  men  who  responded  to  their 
country's  call.  Many  societies  and  unions  lost  for  a  time 
practically  all  their  active  male  members,  but  the  young  women 
came  forward  to  do  more  than  their  share  of  the  work.  The 
young  men  below  military  age  undertook  a  larger  service,  and 
the  movement  suffered  far  less  than  might  have  been  ex- 


592  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

pected,  though  here  and  there  societies  were  disbanded  and 
union  meetings  suspended.  Not  a  few  Endeavorers  distin- 
guished themselves  for  bravery  on  the  field,  and  the  first 
American  to  receive  the  Croix  de  Guerre  was  an  Endeavorer 
from  Indiana. 

My  colleague,  Dr.  Daniel  A.  Poling,  Associate  President  of 
the  United  Society,  went  to  France  twice  during  the  last  year 
of  the  war,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Y.M.C.A.,  and  did 
good  service  in  the  camps  and  the  trenches,  though  necessarily 
absent  from  America  for  only  a  short  time. 

The  winter  of  191 7  and  191 8  will  be  remembered  by  all 
who  survived  it,  as  the  most  severe  within  the  memory  of  the 
oldest  inhabitant.  Below-zero  weather  prevailed  for  weeks 
throughout  the  northern  part  of  the  country  in  late  December 
and  January.  In  New  Hampshire  the  mercury  ranged  from 
thirty  to  forty  degrees  below  zero,  and  even  where  the  ther- 
mometer did  not  sink  quite  so  low,  the  weather  was  just  as 
trying,  even  as  far  south  as  Washington  and  Virginia. 

During  most  of  19 18  the  war  dragged  its  slow  length 
along,  and  no  one  could  believe  that  the  end  was  so  near.  In 
March  the  Germans  launched  their  fiercest  offensive,  and  it 
looked  as  though  they  would  soon  break  through  to  the  Eng- 
lish Channel,  or  perhaps  attain  their  long-desired  aim  of  enter- 
ing Paris  triumphantly.  American  troops  were  being  sent 
across  the  .water  by  the  hundred  thousand  every  month,  but 
it  was  not  until  July  that  the  tide  seemed  to  turn  in  favor  of 
the  Allies. 

In  contrast  with  the  fierce  enmities  and  fightings  which 
racked  the  world,  our  own  spring  and  summer  and  early 
autumn  were  spent  most  quietly  in  Sagamore,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  journey  to  Memphis,  Tenn.,  to  the  All-South 
Christian  Endeavor  convention,  though  of  course  we  fully 
shared  in  the  anxieties  and  terrors  that  made  the  world  tremble. 
The  chief  economic  effect  upon  us  and  our  neighbors  was  the 
enormously  increased  cost  of  living,  and  our  rationing  by  the 


THE    LATER    YEARS    OF    THE    WORLD    WAR  593 

government  of  certain  articles,  especially  sugar  and  flour.  Of 
sugar  our  ration  amounted  to  an  ounce  a  day  for  each  person. 
Of  this  amount  we  limited  ourselves  to  a  half  ounce  a  day  on 
the  table  for  each  one,  and  the  rest  was  reserved  for  cooking. 
We  all  had  our  little  individual  sugar-bowls  and  vied  with 
each  other  to  see  whose  half  ounce  would  last  the  longest. 
The  grandchildren  enjoyed  the  game  of  the  individual  sugar- 
bowls  more  than  their  elders.  The  little  twins  made  a  special 
function  of  tilling  the  sugar-bowls  every  morning,  one  of 
them  uncovering  the  sugar-bowls,  their  grandmother  measur- 
ing out  the  sugar,  and  the  other  twin  putting  the  cover  on 
again  and  watching  to  see  who  had  eaten  most  of  yesterday's 
sugar. 

It  was  amazing  to  note  with  what  good  nature  the  people 
generally  accepted  these  small  privations,  and  how  faithfully 
as  a  whole,  they  lived  up  to  the  government  regulations.  Until 
the  war  was  over  there  seemed  to  be  little  profiteering  and 
little  hoarding,  for  great  motives  and  a  determined  purpose 
had  gripped  the  hearts  of  the  people  to  see  the  war  through. 
Of  course  America,  when  compared  with  other  nations,  had 
indeed  little  to  complain  of  and  few  privations  to  bear.  Our 
country  was  the  granary  of  the  world  and  no  people  suffered 
less  than  ours. 

The  generosity  of  the  public  during  this  year  was  almost 
beyond  belief.  Money  was  poured  out  by  the  millions  for 
war  relief,  for  Y.M.C.A.,  Salvation  Army  Community  Camps, 
Red  Cross  and  all  sorts  of  good  causes,  while  at  the  same  time 
the  missionary  societies  and  churches  did  not  lack  funds  or 
curtail  their  expenses. 

The  United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  kept  up  its 
efforts  for  war-gardens,  for  production  and  conservation.  En- 
deavorers  did  their  utmost  for  the  organization  for  the  relief 
and  entertainment  of  the  soldiers  in  the  camps  at  home  and  the 
trenches  abroad. 

Then,  suddenly,  early  in  November  came  the  glad  news 


594  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

that  the  war  was  ended.  The  Armistice  was  signed.  The 
nation  went  delirious  with  joy,  and  showed  its  delirium  in  the 
tooting  of  horns,  blowing  of  whistles,  rag-tag  and  bob-tail 
parades,  and  extravagances  of  all  kinds  which  involved  noise 
and  shouting.  However,  I  saw  nothing  in  Boston  that  com- 
pared with  the  orgy  on  Mafeking  Day  in  London  where  I 
then  happened  to  be,  when  the  news  of  the  tardy  triumph  of 
the  British  forces  over  the  Boers  reached  that  city.  One 
reason,  doubtless,  was  that  hard  liquor,  which  flowed  freely  in 
Great  Britain,  was  banished  from  American  saloons  by  the 
war-time  prohibition. 

At  the  same  time  there  had  been  going  on  a  wonderful 
temperance  revolution  throughout  the  whole  country,  not  par- 
ticularly connected  with  the  war.  In  1911,  at  the  Christian 
Endeavor  National  Convention  in  Atlantic  City,  the  slogan  was 
adopted,  "A  Saloonless  Nation  by  1920,  the  300th  anniversary 
of  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims."  It  seemed  to  many  an  absurd 
war-cry,  and,  as  a  prediction,  impossible  of  fulfilment.  But 
the  temperance  sentiment  had  been  gathering  strength  for 
many  years.  Congress  at  last  authorized  the  States  to  vote  on 
a  Prohibition  amendment  to  the  Constitution.  State  after  State 
in  quick  succession  ratified  the  amendment,  almost  as  much  to 
the  amazement  of  the  temperance  forces  as  to  the  liquor-dealers 
themselves.  Such  States  as  New  York  and  Massachusetts  and 
Pennsylvania  with  great  foreign  populations,  which  it  was 
supposed  would  fight  the  amendment  tooth  and  nail,  went  over, 
through  their  legislatures,  to  the  temperance  side,  and  New 
Jersey  and  Rhode  Island  were  the  only  two  States  of  the 
forty-eight  that  refused  to  ratify  the  amendment. 

As  I  write  it  is  too  soon  to  tell  of  the  results  which  will 
eventually  flow  from  nation-wide  prohibition,  but  already 
many  jails  are  half  empty,  some  of  them  closed  up  altogether, 
while  the  savings  banks  have  received  hundreds  of  millions  of 
dollars  that  would  otherwise  have  gone  into  the  tills  of  the 
saloon  keepers. 


THE    LATER    YEARS    OF    THE    WORLD    WAR  595 

Strenuous  efforts  are  constantly  being  made  by  some  honest 
anti-prohibitionists,  backed  by  all  the  evil  forces  of  the  old 
saloon  days,  boot-leggers  and  liquor-profiteers,  to  nullify  or 
make  ridiculous  the  law.  But  I  believe  practical  prohibition 
has  come  to  stay,  and  that  the  days  of  the  unspeakably  nefari- 
ous saloon  are  over  forever. 

An  event  that  stirred  Boston  to  much  enthusiasm  for  that 
staid  old  town  was  the  return  of  President  Wilson  from  the 
Peace  Conference  in  Paris.  It  was  said  that  30,000  people 
applied  for  tickets  to  Mechanics  Building,  where  he  was  to 
make  his  first  address  after  reaching  America.  I  was  one  of  the 
fortunate  three  or  four  thousand  who  obtained  a  ticket,  and 
was  much  pleased  with  the  modesty  and  self-restraint,  but  at 
the  same  time  the  undoubted  strength,  of  the  President's  ad- 
dress. Feeling  by  this  time  had  begun  to  run  high.  Some 
Republican  Senators  seemed  to  think  that  it  was  good  politics 
to  criticise  and  deride  the  President  and  abuse  him  for  every- 
thing he  did  and  said,  either  in  America  or  France.  From 
being  the  most  popular  man  in  the  world  during  the  days  of  the 
war,  he  became  at  length  the  most  hated  in  some  sections,  and 
the  most  abused. 

Yet  party  lines  were  not  drawn  altogether  on  this  subject. 
A  few  members  of  his  own  party  were  violently  opposed  to  the  • 
League  of  Nations,  while  some  eminent  Republicans  like 
former  President  Taf t,  Attorney-General  Wickersham,  former 
Senator  Crane,  and  others,  supported  the  President  and  the 
League  of  Nations  most  courageously. 

Though  many  of  my  friends  were  on  the  other  side,  I  sided 
strongly  with  the  President,  and  did  all  that  I  could,  in  a 
humble  way,  to  promote  his  ideals.  I  was  glad  that  my  three 
sons  agreed  with  me  substantially  in  this  matter,  and  that  all 
my  colleagues  in  the  Christian  Endeavor  ofiice  also  heartily 
supported  the  President  in  his  fight  for  "  The  League  of 
Nations  "  and  for  world  peace. 

While  I  am  on  this  subject,  I  may  as  well  refer  to  letters 


596  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

I  received  from  President  Wilson  in  the  summer  of  1919. 
In  reply  to  an  earnest  invitation  to  come  to  the  biennial  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  Conference  at  Buffalo  in  August  of  that  year  to 
speak  on  the  League  of  Nations,  he  wrote  as  follows, 

"  My  dear  Dr.  Clark, 

"  Your  letter  of  July  23d  gave  me  a  great  deal  of  pleasure 
and  reassurance.  I  can  assure  you  that  your  confidence  and 
approval  mean  a  vast  deal  to  me. 

"  I  dare  not  hope  to  be  present  at  the  Biennial  Meeting  to 
which  you  so  generously  invite  me,  but  you  may  be  sure  that 
my  heart  will  go  out  to  it,  and  that  I  know  what  I  am  missing 
in  missing  the  opportunity  to  address  so  great  and  influential 
a  body  on  a  matter  so  near  my  heart. 

"  Cordially  and  Sincerely  Yours, 

"  WooDROw  Wilson." 

The  conference  passed  a  strong  resolution  in  favor  of  the 
League  and  there  was  also  a  spontaneous  uprising  for  it  at  the 
close  of  the  splendid  address  by  Hon.  Newton  D.  Baker, 
Secretary  of  War,  in  the  latter  part  of  which  he  earnestly 
advocated  the  League.  As  requested  by  the  conference  I  sent 
word  to  President  Wilson  of  this  action,  and  though  my  letter 
required  no  reply  he  generously  took  the  time  in  the  midst  of 
one  of  his  busiest  days,  shortly  before  he  started  on  his  famous 
and  fatal  tour  of  the  country  in  favor  of  the  League,  to  write 
as  follows: 

"  My  dear  Dr.  Clark, 

"  You  know  how  to  cheer  me,  and  the  information  brought 
me  by  your  kind  letter  of  August  12,  has  indeed  done  so.  I 
thank  \()u  with  all  my  heart. 

"  Cordially  and  Sincerely  Yours, 

"  WooDRow  Wilson." 

I  should  have  before  mentioned  the  influenza  scourge  that 
afflicted  the  country,  and  indeed  the  world,  in  the  autumn  of 
191 8  and  the  winter  following.  As  though  war  had  not  been 
enough  to  decimate  the  nations,  pestilence  was  added,  and  ter- 


THE    LATER    YEARS    OF    THE    WORLD    WAR  597 

rible  as  the  ravages  of  war  had  been,  the  deaths  frum  influenza 
throughout  the  world  were  far  more  numerous.  In  many 
places  cofiins  could  not  be  obtained  fast  enough,  in  which  to 
bury  the  dead,  and  in  such  a  town  as  Sagamore,  for  instance, 
bodies  had  to  be  kept  for  a  week,  while  coffins  were  sent  from 
Chicago  or  other  distant  places. 

Terrible  reports  from  all  parts  of  the  world  reached  us  con- 
cerning the  disease.  In  China  millions  died  of  the  plague, 
which  seemed  to  be  much  like  the  old  "  Black  Death,"  or 
pneumonic  plague.  In  Samoa  a  quarter  part  of  the  inhabitants 
were  carried  off  by  it,  while  our  troops  in  the  cantonments  at 
home  and  in  the  camps  abroad,  suffered  more  from  influenza 
than  from  German  bullets. 

My  health,  by  reason  of  the  months  I  had  spent  on  the  old 
farm,  seemed  to  be  now  quite  re-established,  and  I  was  able 
to  attend  more  meetings  than  for  years  past,  and  to  take  a  tour 
as  far  west  as  the  Missouri  River  in  the  early  summer  of  19 19. 

The  chief  Christian  Endeavor  event  of  that  year  was  the 
Biennial  Conference  at  Buffalo  in  August.  On  account  of  the 
high  railroad  fares  and  the  dislocations  caused  by  the  war,  we 
did  not  plan  for  a  great  convention  as  usual,  but  rather  for  a 
conference  of  leaders.  The  five  hundred,  however,  who  were 
first  planned  for,  swelled  to  more  than  two  thousand  delegates, 
and  the  conference  proved  to  be  almost  as  influential  and 
important  as  any  of  the  greater  conventions  that  had 
preceded  it. 

In  the  president's  biennial  message  I  proposed  certain  goals, 
among  them  a  "  fifty  per  cent  increase  during  the  next  two 
years,"  "  a  society  in  every  church  or  we  will  know  the  reason 
why,"  and  "  an  Alumni  Association  in  every  local  union." 

These  goals,  and  other  suggestions  looking  to  the  reinforce- 
ment of  Christian  Endeavor  on  the  old  foundations  of  loyalty 
to  Christ  and  the  Church,  to  the  Pledge,  and  to  our  underlying 
principles,  were  adopted  unanimously  and  heartily,  and  a  great 
Loyalty  Campaign  was  at  once  started  throughout  the  country. 


Chapter   LII 
Year    1920 

THE  WORLD  AFTER  THE  WAR 

THE    POLICE    STRIKE    IN    BOSTON  ON    THE    BATTLEFIELDS    OF 

FRANCE A  VISIT  TO  JUGO-SLAVIA PASSPORT  TROUBLES 

DISTRACTED    EUROPE WHERE    THE    FIRST    GUN    WAS 

FIRED HOLIDAY   HOMES SOME   BRITISH    MEETINGS 

ON  THE  TRAIL  OF  AN  ANCESTOR 

LL  of  my  contemporaries  of  these  days  will 
long  remember  the  distracting  and  distracted 
years  which  followed  the  armistice  and  the 
impossible  Peace  of  Versailles.  While  of 
course  Europe  suffered  far  more  than 
America,  our  own  troubles  seemed  serious 
enough.  High  prices,  high  taxes,  and  innumerable  strikes  were 
everyday  affairs  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  The  most  serious 
event  of  the  kind  in  America  was  perhaps  the  police  strike  in 
Boston,  when  for  some  twenty-four  hours  the  city  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  mob. 

I  happened  to  come  back  from  New  York  on  the  morning 
after  the  strike  began.  All  night  the  hoodlums,  thieves,  and 
thugs  had  ruled  Boston.  Passing  up  Summer  Street  to  Wash- 
ington Street,  I  was  amazed  to  see  scores  of  great  plate-glass 
windows  smashed,  and  their  former  contents  looted.  In  the 
middle  of  the  principal  streets  and  on  the  Common  groups  of 
boys  and  young  men  were  shooting  craps  and  gambling  with 
cards,  unmolested.  The  crossings  were  unguarded  by  traffic 
police,  and  the  staid  old  city  had  the  first  taste  of  unrestricted 
license  it  had  known  in  the  nearly  three  hundred  years  of  its 

598 


THE    WORLD    AFTER    THE    WAR  599 

existence.  But  within  another  twenty-four  hours  the  forces 
of  law  and  order  had  things  well  in  hand. 

Governor  Coolidge's  ringing  slogan  that  "  No  man  at  any 
time,  anywhere,  has  a  right  to  strike  against  the  public 
peace,"  Police  Commissioner  Curtis'  prompt  discharge  of  all 
the  striking  policemen,  and  Mayor  Peters'  cordial  co-operation 
on  the  right  side,  put  heart  into  every  right-minded  person, 
and  hundreds  of  citizens  volunteered  to  act  as  amateur  police- 
men to  save  the  city  from  further  pillage.  The  example  of 
the  Boston  authorities  did  much  to  settle  forever  the  question 
of  whether  the  servants  of  a  State  or  of  a  municipality  had  a 
right  deliberately  to  endanger  the  lives  and  property  of  their 
fellow-citizens. 

My  son  Sydney,  and  my  son-in-law,  William  Chase,  were 
both  among  the  police  volunteers,  and  patrolled  certain  parts 
of  the  city  night  after  night  for  three  or  four  weeks.  The 
substitute  police  force  included  many  prominent  people  of 
Boston.  Bankers  and  leading  merchants,  teachers  and  even 
ministers,  gladly  enlisted  for  this  service. 

A  remarkable  development  of  the  war  was  the  Increase  of 
Christian  Endeavor  societies  in  the  countries  that  had  suffered 
the  most  from  mental  and  moral  shell-shock.  I  have  already 
mentioned  that  the  societies  in  Germany  had  largely  increased, 
though  I  expected  that  the  war  might  make  an  end  of  all  of 
them.  The  same  was  true  of  several  other  countries  in  the 
continental  war  zone,  except  France  and  Italy,  where  the 
overwhelming  Catholic  majority  will  never  allow  any  large 
number  of  such  Protestant  organizations.  The  smaller  coun- 
tries which  were  carved  out  of  Russia  and  Austro-Hungary 
showed  amazing  vitality  in  this  form  of  Christian  service,  and 
from  Jugo-Slavia,  and  Hungary,  from  Poland,  Latvia, 
Esthonia,  and  Finland,  news  began  to  come  that  the  societies 
were  rallying  and  multiplying,  though  in  some  places, 
especially  in  Hungary,  the  strong  bands  of  Christian  Endeavor 
of  former  days  had  been  decimated  so  that  they  were  numeri- 


600  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

cally  but  a  shadow  of  their  former  selves.  However,  they 
seemed  to  make  up  in  self-sacrificing  vigor  for  their  lack  of 
numbers,  and  soon,  as  is  natural,  the  numbers  also  increased. 

The  World's  Christian  Endeavor  Union  was  able  to  help 
all  these  countries  to  obtain  field-secretaries  of  their  own. 
Most  of  them  on  gaining  their  independence  formed  national 
Christian  Endeavor  Unions  and  many  calls  came  from  them 
for  sympathy  and  fellowship  as  well  as  for  cash. 

I  felt  that  this  was  the  time,  beyond  all  others  when,  if 
possible,  I  should  carry  this  sympathy  by  word  of  mouth,  and 
that  perhaps  more  could  be  done  in  the  way  of  reconciliation, 
and  in  creating  a  feeling  of  comradeship  and  good  will  among 
the  young  people  of  these  societies  in  America  and  Europe  just 
then,  than  could  be  accomplished  later  in  a  score  of  years. 

Early  in  January,  1920,  therefore,  my  wife  and  I  sailed 
on  the  French  liner  "  La  Touraine  "  for  Havre.  The  "  La 
Touraine  "  is  a  so-called  "  cabin-passage  steamer,"  meaning,  in 
these  days,  second-class  and  steerage,  and  the  rates  are  only 
about  half  as  much  as  on  the  larger  steamers  that  carry  three 
classes  of  passengers.  Our  fellow  voyagers  were  a  very  mixed 
company.  French  and  Italians,  Czechs  and  Slavs,  Russians 
and  Roumanians,  Polanders  and  Finns,  some  Germans  and  a 
few  German-American  Mormons  jostled  each  other  on  the 
decks.  Doubtless  many  of  these  passengers  had  gone  to 
America  a  few  years  before  in  the  steerage,  had  made  their 
ten,  fifteen,  and  twenty  dollars  a  day  in  wages  during  the  war 
years  when  labor  was  scarce  and  muscle  chiefly  at  a  premium, 
and  were  going  back  in  style  with  their  newly  acquired  wealth, 
to  visit  their  old  homes,  and  to  tell  their  neighbors  of  the 
wage-marvels  of  America.  Many  of  them  had  never  learned 
the  use  of  a  fork,  and  the  napkins  which  the  ship  furnished 
were  evidently  to  some  unnecessary  refinements. 

However,  we  all  got  along  well  together,  and  it  was  interest- 
ing to  see  more  of  that  side  of  life  than  one  does  on  first-class 
steamers. 


THE    WORLD    AFTER    THE    WAR  60I 

We  made  Paris  our  headquarters,  as  in  those  days  was  almost 
a  necessity,  considering  the  vises  which  one  had  to  struggle  for 
if  one  wished  to  set  foot  across  any  national  boundary  lines. 

On  the  steamer  we  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  young 
Quaker  who  was  returning  to  his  blessed  task  of  reconciliation 
and  reconstruction  in  the  devastated  parts  of  France.  We  were 
glad  to  accept  his  invitation  to  visit  him  and  his  companions 
in  Aubreville,  not  far  from  the  Argonne  Forest.  It  was  indeed 
a  scene  of  desolation  which  cannot  be  described  or  scarcely 
believed  by  those  who  have  not  witnessed  similar  sights. 

Aubreville  itself  had  not  been  entirely  destroyed,  but  some 
of  the  villages  in  the  vicinity  had  been  actually  wiped  off  the 
face  of  the  earth.  One  could  not  have  told  that  there  had 
ever  been  a  village  upon  their  sites,  except  from  some  heaps 
of  pulverized  bricks.  Great  shell  holes  abounded.  Some  of 
them,  where  water  had  settled,  looked  like  small  ponds,  miles 
of  barbed  wire  entanglements  and  the  indescribable  debris 
which  war  leaves  behind  cumbered  the  roadsides.  The  hills 
in  many  places  were  honeycombed  with  dug-outs  as  though  a 
swarm  of  elephantine  swallows  had  made  their  homes  in  the 
banks.  Some  of  them  had  been  built  by  the  Germans  and  some 
by  the  Allies,  as  this  region  had  passed  back  and  forth  between 
the  temporary  conquerors  and  conquered  several  times  in  the 
course  of  the  war. 

The  most  elaborate  dug-out  that  we  visited  was  in  the  heart 
of  the  forest  and  was  said  to  have  been  the  abode  of  the  Crown 
Prince.  Though  stripped  of  its  furniture  and  much  of  its 
wood-work,  it  had  evidently  been  a  very  swell  affair  as  dug- 
outs go.  A  stove,  a  bath-room,  tiled  floors,  and  a  separate 
servant's  antechamber  had  been  among  its  luxuries.  But 
already  the  path  to  it  was  so  grown  up  with  weeds  and  bushes, 
and  the  plank  walks  had  become  so  rotten  that  they  were  al- 
most impassable,  and  the  forest  will  soon  reclaim  it  for  its 
own. 

I    have   not   room   to   describe   our   visit   to   Clermont-en- 


602  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Argonne,  La  Grange,  Chalons-sur-Marne,  Varennes,  all  bat- 
tered and  bruised  by  war.  On  our  way  to  the  battlefields  we 
stopped  for  a  few  hours  at  Chalons-sur-Marne,  where  the 
Quakers  had  established  a  fine  maternity  hospital.  In  the 
old  building  which  they  first  used  a  thousand  babies  were  born, 
many  of  whom  will  never  know  their  fathers'  names  or  nation- 
alities. The  babies  were  lying  around,  apparently  promiscu- 
ously, wherever  a  ray  of  winter  sunshine  could  fall  upon  them, 
but  they  were  well  wrapped  up  and  cared  for,  though  many  of 
them  were  evidently  poor,  little  diseased  weaklings. 

I  could  spend  the  rest  of  this  volume  in  applauding  the 
noble  constructive  work  of  these  Quaker  pacifists.  Their  con- 
sciences forbade  them  to  fight,  but  they  were  no  cowards,  and 
they  endured  dangers  and  privations  greater  than  most  of  the 
soldiers  who  did  not  absolutely  get  into  the  front  trenches,  and 
without  even  a  soldier's  poor  pay. 


We  resolved  that,  if  possible,  we  would  on  this  journey  to 
Europe  accept  the  invitation  of  our  friend  Rev.  Samuel  Schu- 
mxacher,  of  whom  I  have  before  spoken,  who  had  survived  the 
war  and  the  terrible  hardships  which  came  to  all  the  people 
of  the  Balkan  nations,  and  was  now  the  pastor  of  a  promising 
church  in  Zemun,  or  Semlin,  as  it  was  formerly  called,  one 
of  the  chief  cities  of  the  new  "  Kingdom  of  the  Serbs,  Croats, 
and  Slovenes,"  or  Jugo-Slavia  for  short. 

To  visit  this  new  kingdom  with  a  long  name  was  in  those 
days  easier  said  than  done,  and  it  took  days  to  get  the  neces- 
sary vises.  It  involved  innumerable  hours  of  waiting  in  drafty 
passages  before  closed  doors  of  out-of-the-way  consulates  in 
different  part  of  Paris.  Our  own  American  consul-general 
very  willingly  extended  my  passport  to  include  Jugo-Slavia, 
and  the  prefect  of  the  Paris  police  gave  me  permission  to  leave 
the  city.     But  Switzerland  and  Italy  lie  between  France  and 


THE    WORLD    AFTER    THE    WAR  603 

Serbia,  and  their  consuls  had  to  be  hunted  up  and  consulted 
and  argued  with  and  well  paid  for  their  stamps  and  signatures 
on  our  passports,  though  I  assured  them  that  I  was  not  going 
to  leave  the  train  even  for  five  minutes  on  my  way  through 
their  domains. 

Most  difficult  of  all  was  it  to  find  the  Jugo-Slavian  Consu- 
late in  a  remote  and  dingy  fourth  story.  But  f er sever antiay 
according  to  the  old  proverb,  conquers  all  things,  and  at  last  my 
passport  was  decorated  with  a  sufficient  number  of  signatures 
of  different  consuls  to  allow  us  to  start  j  (thirty-two  of  them  in 
all  before  we  reached  home). 

A  fairly  comfortable  train,  a  post-war  remnant  of  the 
famous  Oriental  Express,  carried  us  to  Belgrade  without 
change,  though  with  interminable  delays  in  many  places,  and 
hours  at  every  national  border,  where  our  passports  were 
scrutinized  microscopically,  and  where  we  frequently  doubted 
if  we  should  be  allowed  to  go  any  further. 

Through  the  lovely  Rhone  valley  in  Switzerland,  through 
Milan  and  Venice  and  other  famous  cities  our  route  took  us, 
though  of  course  we  only  obtained  car-window  glimpses  of  the 
wonders  and  glories,  natural  and  architectural,  past  which  we 
were  borne. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Trieste  we  saw  even  more  horrible 
destruction  than  in  France,  for  the  retreating  and  advancing 
armies  of  Italy  and  Austria  had  fought  desperately  for  years 
over  this  ground,  leaving  nothing  but  desolate  ruin  behind 
them,  though  Trieste  itself  had  been  little  injured. 

Long  before  daylight  of  the  second  night  we  reached  Bel- 
grade. Though  our  friend  Schumacher  had  come  to  Belgrade 
to  meet  us  we  missed  him  in  the  darkness  and  the  confusion  of 
the  station,  but  at  last  we  roused  a  sleepy  droschky  man,  who 
took  us  to  the  Grand  Hotel.  It  is  always  safe  to  say  "  Grand 
Hotel  "  to  your  driver  in  such  an  emergency.  There  is  sure 
to  be  one  of  that  name  in  every  considerable  or  inconsiderable 
city  in  Europe. 


604  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

The  hotel  was  as  "  black  as  Pokonocket,"  and  the  air  was 
icy  cold,  but  at  length  after  much  rapping  and  ringing  we 
roused  a  porter,  who  told  us  to  our  dismay  that  there  was  a 
general  strike  on  in  Belgrade,  and  that  they  had  no  cooks,  no 
.waiters,  no  chambermaids,  no  beds,  no  meals,  no  guests,  and 
that  they  could  not  take  us  in.  We  reasoned  with  him,  and 
after  much  persuasion,  and  still  more  material  reminders  of 
the  duties  of  hospitality,  he  told  us  we  might  sit  in  the  cold 
cafe  until  daylight.  The  chairs  were  piled  up  on  the  tables, 
and  only  a  flickering  light  ,was  burning,  but  it  was  better  than 
nothing,  and  there  we  sat  for  four  mortal  hours,  until  it  was 
bright  enough  to  go  out  on  the  street. 

We  found  that  the  strike  extended  to  every  minute  form 
of  service.  There  were  no  porters,  no  droschkysj  the  shops, 
cafes,  and  conditorei  were  all  closed.  At  last  we  found  a  good 
lady,  who  ran  a  little  establishment  of  her  own  with  the  aid 
of  her  daughter  and  no  hired  help,  who  gave  us  a  cup  of 
coffee  apiece  and  a  cookie. 

Later  we  made  our  way,  carrying  our  small  hand  luggage, 
to  the  steamer,  and  crossed  the  great  river  Save,  which  is  here 
three  miles  wide,  to  Zemun  or  Semlin,  on  the  farther  side.  In 
former  days  Zemun  was  in  the  province  of  Croatia  in  Austria. 
Here  we  were  at  the  fountain-head  of  the  World  War.  Here 
the  very  first  gun  was  fired  from  the  heights  of  Zemun  into 
Belgrade  the  capital  of  Serbia.  Of  course  Belgrade  fired  back 
upon  Zemun,  and  for  long  years  both  cities  knew  the  horrors 
of  war,  whose  varying  fortunes  brought  them  first  under  one 
set  of  rulers  and  then  under  another. 

We  found  indeed  a  cordial  welcome  from  our  friend  Schu- 
macher, who  treated  us  throughout  our  stay  like  royal  guests. 

At  this  time  Serbia  was  much  in  the  eye  of  Americans  as  a 
famishing  country,  and  lurid  appeals  were  being  made  to  send 
supplies  to  the  starving  children.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  how- 
ever, the  worst  of  Serbia's  troubles  were  over.  She  had  had 
two  good  harvests  since  the  war.     The  richest  farming  lands 


THE    WORLD    AFTER    THE    WAR  605 

of  Hungary  had  been  assigned  to  her  as  part  of  the  spoils  of 
victory.  The  very  day  before  my  daughter  received  a  letter 
from  us  describing  the  abundant  and  delicious  food  with  which 
our  friends  had  prepared  for  us,  she  had  attended  a  lecture 
describing  in  harrowing  terms  the  sufferings  of  the  starving 
millions  of  Jugo-Slavia,  and  she  feared  that  we  also  might  be 
on  the  edge  of  dissolution  from  lack  of  nourishment.  It 
would  be  well  for  philanthropists  everywhere  to  fit  their 
appeals  more  carefully  to  the  facts,  even  if  it  sometimes  means 
the  abandonment  of  their  special  charity. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  Serbia  had  recovered  from  the  war. 
Though  food  was  plentiful  in  most  parts,  yet  everything  else 
was  extremely  scarce  and  dear,  save  the  things  that  could  be 
produced  at  home.  My  ministerial  friend  there  told  me  that 
he  had  to  pay  three  thousand  kronen  for  a  suit  of  clothes,  and 
six  hundred  for  a  pair  of  shoes.  A  krone,  formerly  worth 
twenty  cents,  had  then  come  to  be  worth  less  than  a  fiftieth 
part  of  its  former  value. 

Three  important  meetings  were  arranged  for  us  to  bring 
the  right  hand  of  America's  fellowship  to  the  Jugo-Slavians. 
The  first  was  in  the  city  hall  of  Zemun,  where  the  mayor  and 
counsellors  had  invited  us  to  meet  a  select  company  of  the 
leading  citizens  of  the  city,  a  hundred  and  fifty  or  so.  English 
is  almost  an  unknown  tongue  in  that  part  of  the  world,  and 
interpreters  were  very  scarce  and  not  too  well  fitted  for  their 
task.  However,  a  priest  of  the  Oriental  Orthodox  Church 
was  found,  who  proved  to  have  an  admirable  knowledge  of 
both  English  and  Serbian,  and  he  gave  eminent  satisfaction  to 
all  who  heard  him.  My  greetings  from  America  were  received 
with  great  enthusiasm  and  applause. 

Indeed  just  at  that  time  America  was  by  far  the  most  popular 
country  in  the  world  with  the  Jugo-Slavians.  President  Wilson 
had  righteously  taken  her  part  against  Italy  in  the  Fiume- 
D'Annunzio  trouble,  and  he  was,  to  these  people,  the  chief  of 
all  the  nations.    In  Belgrade  we  saw,  and  doubtless  might  now 


6o6  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

see,  a  "  Wilson  Park  "  and  a  "  Wilson  Avenue,"  a  "  Wilson 
Hotel  "  and  a  "  Wilson  Restaurant,"  and  I  do  not  know  how 
many  other  things  Wilsonian. 

Just  as  the  lecture  and  the  concluding  votes  of  thanks  were 
ended,  all  the  electric  lights  in  the  hall  and  in  the  city  gen- 
erally went  out,  but  this  was  no  unusual  occurrence  in  those 
early  days  of  the  new  kingdom,  so,  taking  hold  of  hands,  we 
groped  our  way  down  the  black  stairway  and  through  the 
black  streets  until  we  reached  the  home  of  our  friends. 

Another  meeting  was  held  in  the  new  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building 
in  Belgrade,  a  barrack-like  affair,  whose  secretary  seemed  rather 
discouraged  at  the  outlook  for  his  cause.  Here  my  interpreter 
was  a  government  official  who  professed  himself  to  be  an 
atheist,  but  he,  too,  had  the  very  important  virtue  of  being  a 
good  English  scholar  and  an  excellent  interpreter,  even  though 
the  views  I  expressed  may  not  have  been  in  accordance  with 
his  own.  I  think  that  his  atheism  was  scarcely  skin  deep,  for 
he  had  begun  to  go  to  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  meetings,  and  he  ex- 
pressed himself  as  greatly  interested  in  the  Christian  En- 
deavor movement,  and  hoped  some  time  to  become  a  member 
of  the  society. 

The  most  important  meeting  of  this  interesting  series  was 
held  in  the  little  country  town  of  Novo  Pasova,  some  thirty 
miles  from  the  capital  of  the  kingdom.  Here  came  the 
Endeavorers,  more  than  a  hundred  of  them,  from  Serbia 
proper,  and  the  provinces  which  the  war  had  annexed  to  them, 
Croatia,  Bosnia,  and  Herzegovina,  to  form  their  first  national 
Christian  Endeavor  union.  They  were  a  sturdy  lot  of  earnest, 
evangelical  men  and  women,  many  of  whom  had  suffered  much 
for  their  faith,  for,  during  the  war  and  immediately  after- 
wards, the  low  grade  Serbians,  who  never  loved  the 
Lutherans  and  other  Protestants,  took  much  pleasure  in  break- 
ing their  windows,  sometimes  burning  their  houses  and  com- 
mitting other  depredations.  We  saw  many  windows  boarded 
up  because  of  these  unbrotherly  and  unneighborly  acts.     Glass 


THE    WORLD    AFTER    THE    WAR  607 

was  then  far  too  expensive  to  replace  that  which   had  been 
smashed  in  a  wholesale  way. 

Novo  Pasova  had  a  large  Lutheran  element,  and  the  leading 
families  who  were  relatives  of  Mr.  Schumacher,  were  strongly 
evangelical.  But  an  unaccountable  prejudice  had  been  excited 
against  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  before  our  arrival 
by  the  rationalistic  Lutheran  minister,  who  would  not  allow 
the  use  of  his  church  for  the  convention. 

When  we  reached  the  hall  where  the  meetings  were  held  1 
was  handed  a  formidable-looking  document  on  foolscap, 
stamped  with  the  town  seal. 

Of  course  I  could  not  read  it,  since  it  was  in  Serbian,  even 
worse  than  Greek  to  me.  But  my  friend  soon  translated  it 
as  follows:  Rev.  Mr.  Clark  of  America  is  warned  that  he  will 
be  held  'personally  responsible  for  any  riots  or  bloodshed  which 
may  occur  during  his  visit  to  Novo  Pasova,  and  that  none  of 
his  followers  {the  delegates^  shall  he  allowed  to  carry  fire- 
arms to  the  meetings."  It  can  be  imagined  that  I  very  will- 
ingly signed  this  document,  and  promised  to  abstain  from 
bloodshed. 

In  order  that  they  might  know  what  it  was  all  about  and 
guard  their  peaceful  town  from  bombs,  or  even  incendiary 
language,  four  of  the  city  fathers  were  the  first  to  arrive,  and 
took  front  seats,  awaiting  the  opening  session. 

At  this  meeting  it  was  most  difficult  of  all  to  obtain  an  inter- 
preter and  the  best  we  could  do  was  to  invite  Frau  Nigrovitch 
to  come  with  us  from  Zemun.  She  had  been  a  telephone 
operator  in  Chicago,  and  knew  telephone  English,  though  very 
little  acquainted  with  the  ecclesiastical  variety.  She  had 
married  a  Serbian  tailor  and  had  gone  back  to  live  in  her 
native  town.  We  greatly  appreciated  her  help,  for  she  was 
obliged  to  bring  with  her,  on  a  cold  railway  journey,  little 
Paul  Nigrovitch,  her  six-months-old  baby,  staying  away  from 
home  for  three  days. 

What  idea  the  selectmen  of  Novo  Pasova  obtained  of  Chris- 


608  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

tian  Endeavor  from  my  speech  and  her  translation,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  tell.  They  listened  in  austere  silence,  but  apparently 
were  not  displeased,  for  afterwards  they  came  up  to  me,  one 
after  the  other,  and  said  that  they  believed  it  was  all  right 
and  we  might  go  on  with  our  meetings.  Naturally  Mr. 
Schumacher  was  chosen  president  of  the  new  union,  and  a  list 
of  other  officers  was  chosen  from  different  parts  of  the  king- 
dom. The  union  now  has  an  active  field-secretary,  giving  his 
whole  time  to  the  work,  and  Mr.  Schumacher  is  doing  his 
best  to  raise  money  for  a  million-kronen  ($40,000)  Christian 
Endeavor  church,  which  will  stand  one  of  these  days  on  a 
prominent  corner  of  a  Zemun  Street,  with  a  big  Christian  En- 
deavor monogram  on  the  tower. 

One  very  interesting  day  I  spent  in  Belgrade  with  my 
friend,  who  showed  me  the  sights  of  this  rather  crude  but 
important  capital.  The  old  palace  from  whose  upper  windows 
a  few  years  ago  the  incensed  people  threw  the  worthless  king, 
Alexander,  and  his  worse  than  worthless  wife,  Draga,  was 
pointed  out.  The  city  contains  a  new  palace,  some  extensive 
fortifications,  one  fine  hotel,  not  "  The  Grand,"  and  some 
very  creditable  business  blocks,  as  well  as  one  or  two  city  parks, 
which  of  course  did  not  look  their  best  in  February. 

King  Peter  was  then  alive,  but  feeble  and  blind.  He  was 
one  of  the  very  few  popular  kings  that  the  war  left  in  Europe, 
and  his  son  Alexander,  who  lived  in  a  very  modest  little  house 
as  royal  houses  go,  was  the  real  ruler. 

The  gaping  wounds  made  by  shot  and  shell  were  still  evi- 
dent in  many  places.  The  suffering  in  Belgrade  had  been 
intense  during  some  phases  of  the  war,  and  the  scarcity  of 
food  almost  unbelievable.  The  wife  of  an  English  professor 
in  the  National  University  told  me  that  they  had  to  burn 
every  stick  of  their  best  furniture  in  order  to  keep  the  breath 
of  life  during  one  cold  winter. 

We  called  on  some  of  the  notables,  but  by  far  the  most  in- 
teresting call  was  on  the  beloved  Bishop  of  Serbia,  Nicolai  Vel- 


THE    WORLD    AFTER    THE    WAR  609 

merovitch,  or  just  Bishop  Nicolai,  as  he  is  usually  called.  The 
Bishop's  palace  is  a  large  and  ornate  building,  the  finest  place 
in  Belgrade  except  the  king's  palace,  but  its  occupant  is  a  most 
modest  and  unworldly  man.  He  speaks  English  fluently,  and 
we  had  a  long  talk  about  the  affairs  of  the  world,  where  order 
was  just  beginning  to  emerge  out  of  chaos.  His  sentiments 
were  all  for  peace,  brotherly  love,  and  the  fellowship  of  the 
liations,  and  he  has  exerted  a  great  influence,  not  only  in  the 
Balkans,  but  in  other  lands,  for  he  is  a  traveller  of  distinction, 
and  has  visited  Britain,  as  well  as  America,  often  preaching  in 
the  most  distinguished  Protestant  pulpits. 

If  any  man  ever  had  a  Christ-like  face,  I  believe  the  good 
bishop  has.  A  long  black  beard,  regular  features,  and  a  beauti- 
ful kindly  eye,  tell  of  a  character  both  strong  and  benignant. 
This  gives  but  an  imperfect  impression  of  this  remarkable  man. 
We  talked  much  about  the  estrangement  of  the  churches,  and 
he  assured  me  of  his  warmest  regard  for  the  Protestant  com- 
munion. "  Our  church  has  never  had  any  quarrels  with 
Protestantism,"  he  said.  "  All  our  troubles  in  the  past  have 
been  with  the  Roman  Catholics."  On  leaving,  he  presented 
me  with  two  or  three  little  books  of  his  in  English,  which 
expressed  the  same  sentiments  of  world  fellowship  and  Chris- 
tian friendship,  as  his  conversation. 

Bidding  goodby  to  our  friend  Mr.  Schumacher,  his  most 
hospitable  wife  and  fine  family  of  children,  after  going  through 
another  series  of  passport  agonies  like  the  ones  endured  on  our 
outward  journey,  we  went  back  to  Central  Europe. 

In  Geneva  one  public  meeting  was  held  on  a  very  stormy 
evening,  and  a  delightful  reception  in  the  charming  home 
of  Rev.  Ernest  Sauvin,  the  most  efficient  secretary  of  the 
European  Christian  Endeavor  Union,  of  whom  I  have  before 
written.  A  conference  with  him  and  Miss  Johanssen,  who 
with  great  difficulty  and  much  hardship  had  come  from  Fin- 
land across  Germany  to  Geneva  to  meet  us,  was  also  of  im- 
portance to  the  cause  in  some  of  the  republics,  for  she  put  us 


6lO  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

in  touch  with  friends  in  Esthonia  and  Latvia,  who  now,  as  well 
as  those  in  Poland,  have  Endeavor  field-secretaries  of  their 
own,  by  reason  of  the  information  I  obtained  at  this  conference, 
and  the  sympathy  she  aroused. 

Crossing  the  channel  to  England  we  spent  a  few  days  among 
OUT  friends  in  Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  Newcastle,  London,  and 
Liverpool.  We  were  also  able  to  attend  the  Scottish  National 
Convention  in  Edinburgh  which  held  its  meetings  in  the 
sombre  pile  of  the  Free  Church  Assembly  Hall.  We  were 
also  present  at  the  inauguration  of  one  of  the  new  holiday 
homes  on  the  Clyde. 

These  holiday  homes  are  a  distinctly  British  contribution 
to  the  Christian  Endeavor  idea.  There  are  eight  or  ten  of 
them,  all  situated  in  the  neighborhood  of  beautiful  resorts, 
and  they  afford  at  a  reasonable  price,  and  in  the  midst  of 
delightful  surroundings,  and  with  choice  company,  a  vacation 
home  for  Endeavorers  and  their  friends.  They  have  been 
exceedingly  popular  and  successful  in  every  case.  Though 
not  money-making  affairs,  they  pay  five  or  six  per  cent  on  the 
money  invested,  and  often  turn  a  surplus  back  into  the  treasury 
for  improvements  and  upkeep. 

But  their  chief  value  is  on  the  side  of  comradeship  and 
spiritual  and  intellectual  stimulus.  They  are  not  in  the  least 
pietistic,  but  are  much  given  to  songs,  good  cheer,  and  daily 
excursions  to  points  of  interest,  yet  a  genuine  religious  atmos- 
phere prevails,  and  the  young  people  return  to  their  homes 
refreshed  in  body,  mind,  and  spirit,  instead  of  weakened  in 
soul  by  an  idle  vacation  wasted,  or  worse  than  wasted,  as  is 
often  the  case  in  America.  I  wish  we  might  follow  their 
good  example. 

The  meeting  in  London  on  Good  Friday  ,was,  as  always,  an 
overwhelming  affair,  crowding  the  Metropolitan  Tabernacle, 
morning,  afternoon,  and  evening.  Dr.  F.  B.  Meyer  was  for 
the  fourth  time  in  twenty-five  years  elected  president  of  the 
London  federation  of  Endeavor  societies,  and  declared  that, 


■llliBlllilM^ 

THE  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  HOUSE  IN  LONDON 
Here  Endeavorers  from  all  parts  of  England  stay  when  in  the  city. 


THE    WORLD    AFTER    THE    WAR  613 

though  he  had  just  been  chosen  president  of  the  Free  Council, 
the  highest  honor  these  churches  could  give  him,  he  considered 
this  a  greater  opportunity  and  honor. 

The  societies  of  Great  Britain  had  been  hard  hit,  as  was 
inevitable,  by  the  war,  and  had  lost  thousands  of  their  leaders, 
but  this  and  other  meetings  showed  conclusively  that  they 
were  coming  back  to  their  old-time  form  and  vigor. 

A  most  interesting  side  trip  which  we  took  in  connection 
with  this  visit  to  England  was  to  the  university  and  the  parish 
church  of  my  first  ancestor  in  America,  Rev,  Zechariah 
Symmes,  of  whom  I  have  spoken  in  the  first  chapter  of  this 
book.  Cambridge  was  his  university,  and  Emmanuel  his 
college. 

A  visit  to  this  famous  university  town  would  have  been 
interesting  in  any  event,  but  it  was  particularly  delightful  to 
imagine  young  Zechariah  walking  these  streets,  entering  these 
hoary  portals,  and  "  sporting  the  oak  "  in  one  of  the  buildings 
of  the  great  quadrangle  of  Emmanuel  College.  We  imagined 
the  young  Puritan,  who  was  destined  to  be  driven  from  his 
native  soil,  in  one  particular  room  which  we  chose  for  him, 
whose  window  looked  down  into  the  quad,  and  we  could 
almost  see  him  with  his  serious  face  preparing  there  for  his 
future  work,  rowing  on  the  Cam,  or,  perhaps,  strolling  medi- 
tatively along  its  verdure-clad  banks. 

From  this  university  went  most  of  the  educated  Puritans 
who  built  up  a  new  Cambridge,  and  a  new  Commonwealth 
across  the  sea. 

Still  more  interesting  was  our  visit  to  Dunstable  where 
Mr.  Symmes  was  the  rector  of  the  great  priory  church  of  this 
historic  town.  It  is  now  the  principal  straw-hat  town  of 
Great  Britain.  Its  narrow  streets,  quaint,  old-fashioned  houses 
and  especially  the  great  church  were  full  of  memories  of 
him.  Dunstable  is  an  unspoiled  English  town  and  has  scarcely 
been  changed  in  its  main  outlines  in  three  centuries.  The 
names    of   the   hotels   reminded    us    of    our   Dickens,    "  The 


6l4  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Saracen's  Head,"  the  "  White  Horse,"  the  "  Red  Lion,"  the 
"  Blue  Boar,"  and  other  similar  names.  As  most  characteristic 
of  the  great  novelist  we  chose  first  the  "  Saracen's  Head," 
but  finding  it  full,  we  went  to  the  "  Red  Lion  "  as  next  best, 
and  found  ourselves  very  comfortable  there  in  a  hotel  as 
old-fashioned  as  its  name. 

The  next  morning,  though  it  rained  torrentially,  we  ex- 
plored the  town,  and  visited  at  length  the  old  priory  church. 
It  is  an  unusually  beautiful  and  spacious  church,  almost  a 
cathedral  in  fact.  Such  were  the  great  priory  churches  of  old. 
But  we  found  no  traces  of  the  Zechariah  of  old,  and  had 
no  chance  to  search  the  records.  He  was  doubtless  anathema 
to  the  church  authorities  when  he  left  there  for  America  on 
account  of  his  Puritanism,  and  they  put  up  no  monument 
to  his  memory  as  Charlestown  in  America  afterward  did. 

After  a  week  for  rest  and  writing  in  lovely  Torquay  by  the 
sea,  a  most  charming  resort  on  the  south  coast,  we  sailed  for 
home  to  take  up  again  our  suspended  duties  in  the  homeland. 


Chapter   LIII 
Year  1921 

MEXICO    IN    1921 


HOW  ENGAGEMENTS  MULTIPLY A  QUAKER  CITY 


MEXICAN 


TRAINS  THIRTY-SIX   HOURS   LATE GOOD   FRIDAY   IN   THE 

CAPITAL THOUSANDS      OF      CALLA      LILIES MEXICO's 

BEAUTIFUL    PARK    AND    WONDERFUL    MUSEUM  A    RACE 

TO    MEET    ENGAGEMENTS GREAT    CHURCHES    IN    TEXAS. 

N  THE  spring  o£  1921  I  planned  to  accept 
the  invitation  of  the  general-secretary  o£  the 
Southwest  Federation  of  Endeavor  societies, 
Mr.  W.  Roy  Breg,  to  address  some  conven- 
tions in  Texas  and  Oklahoma,  and  we  agreed 
also  to  spend  a  week  in  Mexico  together. 
When  this  became  known  I  was  begged  by  Dr.  Smolenske, 
president  of  the  Colorado  union,  and  by  Paul  Brown  of  Cali- 
fornia, the  much-loved  Intermediate  superintendent  of  our 
national  union,  and,  as  I  write.  Pacific  Coast  Secretary  of  the 
United  Society,  to  extend  my  journey  beyond  the  Rockies. 
It  seemed  at  first  impossible  to  do  so  in  the  limited  time  at 
my  disposal,  but,  to  the  persistent  and  the  enterprising  all 
things  are  possible,  and  at  last  these  enterprising  friends  ar- 
ranged a  schedule  which  gave  me  one  day  in  Denver,  a  day 
and  a  half  in  California,  a  week  in  Mexico,  and  another  in 
Texas. 

I  mention  this  journey  with  more  particularity  than  usual, 
because  it  indicates  how,  over  and  over  again,  for  nearly  forty 
years,  these  trips  were  filled  to  overflowing,  by  ardent  friends, 
so  as  to  make  the  most  of  every  moment. 

61S 


6l6  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

At  the  crowded  Denver  gathering,  Governor  Shoup,  an  old- 
time  Endeavorer,  was  one  of  the  speakers.  Years  ago  he 
had  been  the  secretary  of  the  Colorado  State  union,  and  had 
never  lost  his  interest  in  it.  Every  year  he  attends  the  State 
convention  and  gives  generously  to  the  support  of  the  State 
budget,  declaring  that  it  was  the  best  investment  he  could  pos- 
sibly make,  and  he  is  an  unusual  investment  expert. 

Two  of  my  college  classmates,  Judge  Kerr  of  Colorado 
Springs,  and  Lucien  Richardson  of  Denver,  in  a  few  hours  of 
leisure  that  we  had,  took  me  into  the  heart  of  the  mountains 
to  Richardson's  summer  home.  What  a  joy  it  is,  after  fifty 
years,  to  meet  with  the  boys  of  the  olden  time,  to  recall  the 
college  jokes,  to  inquire  after  the  .welfare  of  never-forgotten 
classmates,  and  to  compare  notes  concerning  what  has  befallen 
us  in  half  a  century  out  of  college.  Truly  there  are  few 
friendships  like  those  of  college  days. 

The  convention  in  California  was  that  of  a  single  county 
only,  —  Los  Angeles  County,  —  but  what  a  convention  it  was! 
Nearly  three  thousand  young  people  journeyed  to  the  beauti- 
ful Quaker  town  of  Whittier,  twenty  miles  from  the  City  of 
Angels,  to  spend  three  days  together  in  prayer  and  praise,  in 
schools  of  methods,  and  Bible  study,  in  hours  of  inspiration, 
and  in  genuine,  jolly  fellowship.  There  was  no  long-faced 
solemnity,  but  a  hearty  hilarity  about  these  meetings,  whenever 
hilarity  was  permissible,  which  told  us  that  religion  and  joy 
should  never  be  divorced. 

Whittier  is  one  vast  orange,  lemon,  and  grapefruit  grove, 
with  a  comparatively  small  business  centre,  and  the  largest 
Quaker  church,  so  it  is  said,  in  the  world.  In  spite  of  its 
growth  and  prosperity  it  seems  to  retain  the  quiet,  peaceful 
characteristics  of  its  early  founders.  While  there,  it  is  not  difii- 
cult  to  feel  the  "  inner  light  "  illuminating  one's  daily  life. 

I  had  travelled  three  thousand  miles  for  the  sake  of  less 
than  two  days  with  friends  on  the  coast,  but  it  was  well  worth 
while  so  far  at  least  as  I  was  concerned. 


MEXICO    IN     I92I  617 

Coming  back  toward  the  East  I  met  Mr.  Breg  at  San 
Antonio  for  the  journey  into  Mexico,  where  I  had  not  been 
for  twenty-five  years.  For  the  past  ten  years,  indeed,  Mexico 
had  been  in  such  an  anarchical  state,  bandit-ridden  and  dis- 
tracted in  many  ways,  that  an  effective  journey  thither  for 
religious  purposes  was  scarcely  to  be  thought  of.  Diaz, 
Madero,  Carranza,  had  all  made  a  mess  of  it  in  one  way  or 
another.  But  the  Mexicans,  like  the  rest  of  the  world,  were 
getting  tired  of  the  war  and  outlawry,  and  President  Obregon 
was  beginning  to  bring  order  out  of  chaos. 

Though  we  knew  that  conditions  were  still  very  crude,  the 
country  much  upset,  and  in  some  places  dangerous  for  travel, 
we  decided  to  risk  it  and  try  to  visit  our  friends  in  Mexico 
City  who  had  sent  such  earnest  invitations. 

A  railroad  strike,  which  had  been  slowly  ruining  the 
national  railways  for  months,  had  thoroughly  disorganized 
all  the  travel  routes,  but  we  did  not  realize  how  thoroughly 
until  we  crossed  the  border  and  found  that  trains  were  expected 
to  be  from  twelve  to  twenty-four  hours  late  in  reaching  the 
Capital  from  Loredo  on  the  Texas  border.  The  car  shops 
had  been  particularly  affected  by  the  strike.  Every  engine 
was  out  of  order,  and  had  to  be  tinkered  and  set  running 
again  a  dozen  times  in  the  course  of  an  eight-hundred-mile 
journey. 

Intolerable  waits  which  we  could  not  account  for,  and  which 
no  one  would  explain,  delayed  us  at  many  stations  5  no  less 
than  twelve  hours  in  one  place,  and  seven  in  another,  and 
our  train  was  thirty-six  hours  late  in  reaching  Mexico  City. 
One  meeting,  arranged  for  at  San  Luis  Obispo  had  to  be 
cancelled,  yet  we  found  that  the  welcome  we  received  in 
Mexico  City  repaid  us  for  the  discomforts  and  exasperations 
of  the  journey.  Dr.  John  Rowland,  president  of  the  Union 
Theological  Seminary,  and  his  good  wife  were  our  kind  hosts,- 
and  the  intelligent  earnestness  of  the  Mexican  Endeavorers 
and   their  thorough   understanding  of   the   principles   of  the 


6l8  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

movement,  were  evident  at  all  the  meetings.  The  largest 
Presbyterian  church,  made  over  from  an  old  Catholic  church, 
was  the  chief  meeting-place.  It  was  crowded  as  I  have  seldom 
seen  a  building  packed.  Since  it  was  Easter  Day,  an  almost 
unbelievable  abundance  of  calla  lilies  reminded  us  everywhere 
of  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord.  In  Mexico  such  lilies  can 
be  had  for  the  picking.  In  another  church  which  we  visited 
no  less  than  three  thousand  lilies  were  packed  around  the 
pulpit. 

The  City  of  Mexico  at  this  time  was  bravely  recovering 
from  a  decade  of  political  confusion,  assassination,  and  out- 
rage. The  bandit  Villa  had  been  bought  off  and  was  living 
peacefully  on  a  great  ranch  of  his  own.  Only  one  serious 
band  of  brigands  was  in  the  mountains,  not  far  from  Saltillo. 
President  Obregon  was  giving  our  neighboring  republic  a  just 
and  on  the  whole  popular  administration,  and  Mexico's  re- 
lations with  the  United  States  were  visibly  clearing  up.  Yet 
the  scars  of  the  past  ten  years  of  turmoil  were  evident  enough. 
Great  holes  in  many  of  the  streets,  made  by  incendiary  bombs, 
could  still  be  seen,  and  the  Theological  Seminary  where  we 
lodged  was  peppered  with  bullet  wounds  in  many  places. 

The  Mexicans  made  much  of  Easter  time,  and  it  was  a 
lively  scene  that  we  beheld  on  the  principal  streets.  Innumer- 
able booths  were  filled  with  gimcracks  of  all  kinds,  especially 
with  little  devils  in  red  and  blue,  made  to  be  burned,  while 
a  big  devil,  as  big  as  a  man,  and  filled  with  some  kind  of 
powder,  was  exploded  at  ten  o'clock  on  the  Saturday  before 
Easter,  showing  that  the  Prince  of  Peace  was  more  than  a 
match  for  his  Satanic  majesty.  Never  did  I  see  a  stranger 
or  more  lively  scene  than  these  Easter  streets  of  the  city  of 
the  Aztecs.  Few  cities  have  a  grander  park  than  Mexico  City. 
Not  that  it  is  beautifully  embellished  with  trim  lawns  and 
trained  trees  and  statues  and  fountains  as  are  many  others,  for 
nature  has  fortunately  been  left  pretty  much  to  herself. 
Enormous  trees,  that  are  supposed  to  be  over  a  thousand  years 


MEXICO    IN     I92I  619 

old,  rivaling  the  Sequoias  o£  California,  are  numerous.  Giant 
twining  vines  and  creepers  and  all  kinds  of  tropical  vegetation 
that  can  flourish  a  mile  above  the  sea  level  gives  this  park  a 
distinction  all  its  own.  It  is  crowned,  too,  by  the  magnificent 
Chapu'ltepec  Palace,  where  President  Obregon  holds  his 
republican  court.  It  was  a  disappointment  to  me  not  to  meet 
the  president  as  had  been  planned,  but  he  was  away  from  the 
city  during  the  whole  of  our  stay. 

The  National  Museum  is  worth  a  visit  of  days  rather  than 
the  hours  which  were  all  that  our  time  permitted.  Here  are 
some  of  the  noblest  and  rarest  antiquities  of  Aztec  civilization, 
the  Sacrificial  Stone,  the  wonderful  stone  calendar,  and  many 
rooms  full  of  articles  and  mementoes  that  illustrate  the  ancient 
and  modern  history  of  the  republic. 

Our  return  journey  to  the  States  was  more  thrilling  than 
the  outward  trip.  If  we  should  be  more  than  six  hours  late 
in  reaching  Laredo  on  the  border,  it  would  upset  the  Texas 
programme  and  prevent  us  from  attending  the  specially 
arranged  and  widely-advertised  meetings  in  San  Antonio  and 
Houston.  No  train  for  weeks  had  been  less  than  twelve  hours 
late,  and  we  could  only  trust  to  a  good  Providence  to  get  us 
through  on  time.  Every  half  hour's  delay  was  a  mental  tor- 
ture, but  the  train  kept  up  to  schedule  time  unusually  well, 
and  when  within  a  hundred  miles  of  the  Texas  line  was  only 
six  and  a  half  hours  behind  time. 

If  the  engineer  .could  make  up  half  an  hour  we  might  still 
keep  our  appointments.  So  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  in 
the  coldest  and  darkest  hour  before  the  dawn,  when  some 
further  engine  trouble  delayed  us  again,  my  friend  went  for- 
ward to  the  cab,  and  told  the  three  men  who  occupied  it,  the 
engineer,  fireman,  and  a  sort  of  engine-nurse  (a  mechanic 
who  always  went  along  to  help  it  when  in  trouble),  that  he 
would  give  each  of  them  a  five-dollar  gold  piece  if  they  would 
make  up  just  thirty  minutes  before  reaching  the  border. 
Under  this  stimulus  they  did  their  best.     The  half  hour  was 


620 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN     MANY    LANDS 


actually  made  up,  and  we  reached  the  Mexican  side  of  the  Rio 
Grande,  some  twenty-five  minutes  before  the  train  for  San 
Antonio  was  due  to  start  on  the  Texas  side. 

Still  mountains  of  difficulty  loomed  before  us.  Our  pass- 
ports had  to  be  vised  at  the  Mexican  office  to  enable  us  to  leave 
one  republic,  and  at  the  United  States  office  to  enable  us  to 
enter  another.  Two  custom-houses  had  to  be  visited,  and  our 
baggage  examined,  happily  in  a  cursory  manner.  Then  the 
emigration  and  immigration  offices  must  be  visited,  for  we  were 
emigrants  from  Mexico  and  immigrants  to  the  States.  Finally 
came  the  sanitary  office  of  the  United  States,  where  we  were 
both  vaccinated.  Fortunately  all  these  offices  were  near  to- 
gether. The  officials  kindly  recognized  our  need  of  haste,  and, 
incredible  though  it  may  seem,  we  passed  them  all  in  twenty- 
five  minutes.  The  chauffeur  opened  his  throttle,  and  we 
jumped  into  his  machine.  The  conductor  held  the  San  Antonio 
train  for  four  minutes,  that  we  might  get  on  board,  and  we 
reached  the  first  appointment  in  San  Antonio  on  the  very  hour 
appointed. 

It  had  been  some  years  since  I  was  in  Texas,  and  I  was 
surprised  at  the  growth  of  the  cities  and  at  the  general  pros- 
perity of  the  State.  Texas  had  "  struck  ile "  and  many 
"  gushers  "  had  been  brought  in.  The  State  surely  had  little 
reason  to  complain  of  the  hard  times  from  which  the  rest 
of  the  country  was  suffering.  Still,  it  is  difficult  to  get  alto- 
gether away  from  local  disasters,  and  the  onion  growers  in  a 
great  section  of  Texas  near  the  Mexican  line  were  in  despair 
because  the  price  of  their  crop,  which  largely  feeds  the  United 
States  with  the  "  odorous  bulb,"  had  dropped  from  about 
ten  cents  a  pound  to  one  cent.    Doubtless  it  was  hard  on  them. 

I  was  especially  struck  with  the  size  and  beauty  of  the 
churches  in  the  leading  centres  like  San  Antonio,  Houston, 
Dal  his,  and  Forth  Worth.  Some  of  them,  I  was  told,  had 
an  annual  budget  of  $75,000  a  year,  and  one  of  them,  I  heard, 
raised   $150,000   yearly   for   home   expenses   and    missionary 


MEXICO    IN     I92I  621 

work.  What  a  change  this  from  the  days  of  the  Lone  Star 
Republic,  when  its  few  inhabitants  fought  with  the  wooden- 
legged  Santa  Ana,  and  Sam  Houston  and  his  companions  laid 
the  foundations  for  a  great  commonwealth! 

Speaking  of  Santa  Ana,  I  should  have  said  that  in  the 
splendid  National  Museum  in  Mexico  City,  of  which  I  have 
spoken,  we  saw  his  wooden  leg,  which  has  been  preserved, 
rather  a  grewsome  memento  of  this  national  hero!  Moreover, 
in  the  same  museum  we  saw  several  United  States  flags  which 
had  been  captured  from  our  troops  in  the  Mexican  War,  a 
war  of  which  we  have  no  great  reason  to  be  proud.  The 
history  books  tell  us  nothing  of  the  flags  captured  from  our 
troops,  but  much  of  our  easy  victories. 

The  Endeavor  meetings  in  Texas,  much  as  I  expected,  far 
exceeded  my  anticipations.  In  almost  every  instance  the 
largest  churches  were  crowded,  as  was  also  one  in  flourishing 
Oklahoma  City. 

From  Oklahoma  I  returned  directly  to  Boston,  after  one  of 
the  journeys  longest  in  ciistance  travelled  (9,000  miles),  and 
shortest  in  time  (three  weeks),  and  most  encouraging  in  results, 
of  my  whole  life. 


Chapter    LIV 
Years  1920— 192  i 

BEGINNINGS   OF   WORLD   PEACE 

A    GLORIOUS    VISION    OF    AMITY THE    ELECTION    OF    I92O 

AN       INTERESTING       CEREMONY PRESIDENT        HARDING 

BECOMES      A      CHRISTIAN       ENDEAVOR      ALUMNUS THE 

GRACIOUS    LADY    OF    THE    WHITE    HOUSE ENDEAVORERS 

IN      THE     CABINET THE      GREAT      WASHINGTON      CON- 
FERENCE  SOME    PETITIONS  AND   THEIR  ANSWERS. 

HE  years  1920  and  1921  were  momentous  for 
America  as  for  the  rest  of  the  world,  for 
then  appeared  for  the  first  time  for  six  long 
years  the  dawn  of  a  permanent  world  peace. 
As  I  write  (1922)  it  is  still  far  from  high 
noon,  but  the  promise  for  the  coming  years  is 
bright.  The  world  has  become  sick  of  slaughter.  It  is  no 
longer  considered  unpatriotic  for  a  mother  to  sing,  "  I  did  not 
raise  my  boy  to  be  a  soldier."  The  Pacifists  are  coming  into 
their  own,  as  was  evident  from  the  fact  that  Mr.  Herbert 
Hoover,  the  great  philanthropist  and  saviour  of  starving 
Europe,  committed  to  the  Quakers  millions  of  dollars  for  their 
relief  and  reconstruction  work.  Bitterness  against  Germany 
had  begun  to  subside,  except  in  France,  and  the  Versailles 
Treaty  was  considered  in  many  circles  to  be  an  impossible  if 
not  an  immoral  one. 

The  Endeavorers  generally  were  quick  to  take  advantage 
of  this  new  turn  of  the  tide  against  war,  and  in  favor  of 
universal  peace.  How  could  it  be  otherwise,  when  their 
brethren  were  found  in  every  land,  both  among  the  former 

622 


BEGINNINGS    OF    WORLD    PEACE  623 

allies  and  former  enemies.  In  the  countries  most  stricken 
by  the  flaming  torch  of  war,  the  societies  and  Christian  people 
generally,  by  their  afflictions  and  distresses  had  been  thrown 
back  upon  God  as  never  before,  and  learned  anew  their  true 
allegiance  to  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

I  did  my  utmost  to  cultivate  this  spirit  by  articles  and  ad- 
dresses, and  found  for  the  most  part  a  ready  response. 

The  political  conventions  and  the  election  of  1920  presented 
problems  of  political  conduct  which  were  difficult  for  many 
people  to  solve.  I  was  strongly  in  favor  of  the  League  of 
Nations  as  outlined  in  Paris,  and  felt  that  up  to  that  time 
it  presented  the  only  hope  for  the  peace  of  the  world.  I  also 
felt  that  President  Wilson  was  blocked  in  his  purposes  and 
his  great  aims  were  defeated  by  a  group  of  "  irreconcilable  " 
Senators,  who  seemed  to  be  influenced  by  personal  animosity 
and  partisan  motives. 

Undoubtedly  the  President's  unwillingness  to  yield  his  point 
in  any  particular,  and  his  dislike  for  a  friendly  conference 
with  his  opponents,  prolonged  the  struggle,  and  in  the  end, 
for  a  time,  at  least,  defeated  his  great  purpose.  But  when  he 
was  stricken,  like  a  soldier  on  the  field  of  battle,  the  sympathies 
of  many  of  us  went  out  toward  him  even  more  strongly,  and 
we  felt  that  he  was  a  martyr  to  the  cause  of  his  ideals. 
Whether  to  vote  for  Harding  or  Cox  was  a  serious  problem 
with  many  conscientious  republicans. 

I  was  much  influenced  just  before  election  by  the  pronounce- 
ments of  the  "  Committee  of  Thirty-one,"  which  included 
such  pro-League  Republicans  as  Taft,  Hughes,  and  Lowell, 
and  others  equally  eminent,  to  the  eflFect  that  under  President 
Harding's  administration  we  might  get  some  kind  of  an  associa- 
tion of  nations  or  league  with  reservations,  while  there  was  no 
hope  of  the  Democrats  being  able  to  control  the  Senate  in 
such  a  way  as  to  secure  a  ratification  of  the  Paris  league. 
Almost  at  the  last  moment  I  decided  to  vote  for  Mr.  Harding, 
as  I  am  sure  did  hundreds  of  thousands  of  wavering  Republi- 


624  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN    MANY    LANDS 

cans,  and  he  was  triumphantly  elected,  but  not  by  any  means 
on  the  issue  of  opposition  to  the  League  alone  as  many  of 
Wilson's  opponents  declared.  This  was  the  first  presidential 
election  in  which  women  had  a  part,  and  much  interest  and 
curiosity  was  excited  as  to  ho,w  they  would  vote,  and  what 
influence  they  would  have  upon  the  political  life  of  the  nation. 

It  cannot  be  said  that,  as  yet,  their  influence  has  been  partic- 
ularly marked  one  way  or  the  other,  but  I  think  that  they  have 
made  the  polling  places  far  more  decent  and  orderly  than  in 
the  old  days,  and  I  hope  for  great  things  in  the  future  be- 
cause of  the  influence  of  good  women  on  matters  of  tem- 
perance and  purity,  and  for  the  abatement  of  social  evils. 

Both  Mrs.  Clark  and  myself  have  been  glad,  of  recent 
months,  that  at  the  eleventh  hour  we  voted  for  the  present 
administration.  It  has  been  growing  in  popularity  and  in 
wisdom,  I  believe,  from  the  beginning,  and  the  splendidly 
bold  challenge  to  the  world  at  the  Washington  Conference 
for  the  Limitation  of  Armaments  has  gone  far  to  stamp  it  as 
one  of  the  great  administrations  of  American  history.  It  Is, 
of  course,  at  present,  too  soon,  in  the  autumn  of  1922,  to  ap- 
praise it  at  its  full  value,  but  it  certainly  gives  us  reason  to 
hope  for  the  best. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  1921,  in  compliance  with  the  re- 
quest of  the  Washington  Endeavorers,  President  Harding  con- 
sented to  become  an  honorary  member  of  the  District  of 
Columbia  Christian  Endeavor  Alumni  Association,  and  I  was 
asked  to  go  to  Washington  to  conduct  a  little  ceremony  of 
initiation,  and  to  give  the  President  the  Christian  Endeavor 
badge. 

On  the  day  before  this  little  event,  so  pleasing  to  the  En- 
deavorers of  the  country,  took  place,  I  went  with  the  leaders 
of  the  local  union  to  Mount  Vernon  to  plant  a  memorial  tree. 
When  we  arrived,  however,  we  found  the  tree  ,which  had  been 
planted  twenty-five  years  before,  in  connection  with  the 
National  Convention  of  1896,  so  strong  and  flourishing  that 


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BEGINNINGS    OF    WORLD    PEACE  627 

we  deemed  it  superfluous  to  plant  another,  but  held  a  little 
service  of  rededication  around  the  original  tree. 

The  genial  caretaker  of  the  grounds  remembered  the  former 
event  and  had  done  what  he  could  to  make  the  little  sapling 
then  planted  vigorous  and  strong.  A  great  tornado  a  few 
years  before  had  wrought  havoc  among  the  old  trees  at  Mount 
Vernon.  Many  of  them  had  been  mowed  down  by  the  hurri- 
cane, including  all  those  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Christian  En- 
deavor Tree,  which,  young  and  supple,  had  bent  without  break- 
ing, and  not  a  limb  had  been  lost.  It  stands  in  a  commanding 
position,  near  the  first  tomb  occupied  by  the  body  of  President 
Washington  before  it  was  removed  to  the  site  which  he  had 
designated  in  his  lifetime  for  his  final  resting-place. 

The  next  day,  Sunday,  at  the  appointed  time,  some  fifty 
Endeavorers,  including  a  dozen  of  the  most  prominent  minis- 
ters of  Washington  ( our  company  had  been  limited  by  the 
President's  secretary  to  fifty),  were  received  in  the  great  East 
Room  of  the  White  House.  I  said  a  few  informal  words 
about  our  joy  in  receiving  the  President  into  our  fellowship, 
and  alluded  to  the  text  in  the  book  of  Micah,  which  the  Presi- 
dent kissed  as  he  took  the  oath  on  his  Inauguration  Day: 
"  What  doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee  but  to  do  justly,  to 
love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  Godr  "  In  his 
reply  he  referred  to  this,  which  he  hoped  would  be  the  key- 
note of  his  administration.  Then  I  gave  him  the  little  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  badge,  whose  minute  and  obstinate  clasp 
refused  to  be  easily  pinned  on  his  coat  lapel.'  Mrs.  Harding, 
however,  after  the  vain  attempt  of  myself  as  well  as  of  Mr. 
Percy  Foster,  the  president  of  the  Washington  alumni,  to 
put  it  in  its  place,  came  to  the  rescue  and  promised  to  pin 
it  on  her  husband's  coat  a  little  later.  It  was  an  unexpected 
pleasure  to  have  Mrs.  Harding  with  us.  She  is  a  most  gracious 
lady,  a  beautiful,  kindly  American  woman  of  the  very  best 
type. 

We  afterwards  went  out  on  the  lawn  of  the  East  front  of 


628  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

the  White  House,  and  all  had  our  pictures  taken  with  the 
President  and  Mrs.  Harding,  an  ordeal,  undoubtedly,  which 
the  President  frequently  undergoes,  but  he  could  not  have 
been  more  gracious  about  it,  if  this  had  been  his  first  experience. 

When  we  came  away,  Mrs.  Harding  said  to  us,  with  almost 
oriental  courtesy,  "  You  must  come  again.  Remember  this  is 
not  our  house,  but  yours.  We  are  only  living  here  tem- 
porarily." However,  none  of  us  intend  to  abuse  her  hos- 
pitality by  accepting  her  invitation  too  often  or  taking  it  too 
literally. 

I  was  greatly  impressed  with  the  face  and  whole  demeanor 
of  the  President.  He  has  remarkably  kind,  benevolent  fea- 
tures, and  a  beautifully  expressive  eye.  He  looks  one 
squarely  in  the  face  and  speaks  with  serious  cordiality,  and  in 
a  finely  modulated  voice.  The  whole  impression  is  of  a  man 
who  is  anxious  only  to  know  his  duty  and  to  do  it. 

In  the  morning  of  that  Sunday,  I  had  spoken  in  the  Presi- 
dent's church,  the  Calvary  Baptist,  for  a  few  moments  before 
going  to  another  church  where  my  chief  morning  service  had 
been  arranged.  The  church  was  crowded  in  every  part,  and 
hundreds  of  people  lined  the  curbs  outside  waiting  to  see  the 
President  approach,  but  he  had  motored  into  the  country  that 
morning  to  visit  a  friend,  and  was  not  at  his  own  church  as 
usual.  But  Secretary  of  State  Hughes  sat  in  his  own  accus- 
tomed place,  and  no  preacher  could  ask  for  a  more  appreciative 
listener  than  he  seemed  to  be.  Calvary  Baptist  Church,  long 
one  of  the  leading  Endeavor  churches  in  Washington,  while 
under  the  care  of  its  long-time  beloved  pastor.  Dr.  S.  G. 
Greene,  who  had  recently  died.  Secretary  Hughes  and  the 
President  had  for  years  attended  this  church,  when  in  Wash- 
ington, and  the  Secretary's  daughter  was  a  leading  worker  in 
the  Endeavor  society.  Under  its  new  pastor  it  sustains  the 
same  reputation. 

A  brief  visit  and  a  brief  address  at  each  of  jive  other 
churches  in  the  afternoon  and  evening  of  the  same  day,  in- 


BEGINNINGS    OF    WORLD    PEACE  629 

eluding  a  great  mass  meeting  of  Endeavorers  in  the  First 
Congregational  Church,  finished  a  busy  day,  and  I  was  quite 
tired  enough  to  sleep  well  when  I  took  the  midnight  train 
for  Boston. 

It  is  a  fact  of  some  interest  in  this  connection  that  several 
members  of  the  Cabinet  are  interested  in  the  Christian  En- 
deavor movement,  sufficiently  at  least  to  become  honorary 
members  of  the  Alumni  Association.  Secretary  Hughes,  with- 
out solicitation,  sent  ten  dollars  to  the  Washington  En- 
deavorers and  asked  to  be  enrolled  as  an  alumnus.  The 
President's  secretary,  Mr.  Christian,  has  also  joined  the 
Washington  Alumni,  and  the  then  Postmaster-General,  Will 
Hays,  was  naturally  elected  to  the  Alumni  fellowship,  since 
in  his  younger  years  he  had  been  active  in  the  work,  and  the 
secretary  of  a  local  union  in  Indiana. 

When  the  Washington  Conference  for  the  Limitation  of 
Armaments  was  called  by  the  President  for  November  of  192 1 
I  was  naturally  delighted,  as  were  all  my  associates.  We 
gave  thanks  to  God,  that  the  dream  of  the  ages  seemed  likely 
soon  to  realized,  at  least  in  a  partial  manner. 

As  we  understood  that  President  Harding  and  the  Com- 
missioners desired  to  know  the  sentiment  of  the  public,  and 
how  far  they  would  be  backed  up  in  proposing  drastic  re- 
ductions of  naval  armaments,  I  resolved  that  the  constituency 
with  which  I  had  specially  to  do  should  not  be  backward  in 
giving  them  this  information.  A  petition,  signed  by  a  multi- 
tude of  individual  Endeavorers  and  many  societies,  and  fairly 
representing  three  millions  of  young  people,  and  millions  more 
of  former  Endeavorers,  went  to  the  President,  respectfully 
urging  him  to  go  to  "  the  utmost  limit  "  in  urging  world 
disarmament,  except  for  police  purposes.  We  reminded  him 
at  the  same  time  that  the  Endeavorers  had  some  right  to  be 
heard,  since  they  are  exactly  in  the  age  of  enlistment  and  the 
draft,  and  that  the  young  people  of  to-day,  and  their  successors 
in  the  future,  would  have  to  bear  the  great  burden  of  future 


630  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN    MANY    LANDS 

wars.  Also  the  patriotism  of  the  young  people  could  not  be 
denied,  since  hundreds  of  thousands  had  responded  to  their 
country's  call,  in  the  late  war. 

Another  petition,  signed  by  fifty  or  more  of  the  denomina- 
tional trustees  of  the  United  Society,  and  by  nearly  as  many 
more  State  presidents,  who  are  also  trustees,  was  sent  to  each 
one  of  the  four  commissioners.  Secretary  Hughes,  Senators 
Lodge  and  Underwood,  and  Honorable  Elihu  Root.  Both 
of  these  petitions  were  received  very  graciously.  The  fol- 
lowing letter  from  the  President's  secretary  speaks  for  itself: 


"  THE  WHITE  HOUSE 
"  WASHINGTON 


"  November  2,  1 921. 
"  My  Dear  Dr.  Clark: 

"The  President  has  received  your  letter  of  October  31st 
with  enclosure,  and  has  read  it  with  interest  and  appreciation. 
He  asks  me  to  assure  you  and  all  concerned  that  he  is  very 
much    gratified    by   this    expression    of    confidence. 

"  Sincerely  yours, 
"  (signed)  Geo.  B.  Christian,  Jr. 

"  Secretary  to  the  President." 

The  Commissioners  replied  with  equal  cordiality. 

Personal  letters  from  the  President,  which  I  prize,  tell  of 
his  interest  in  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society,  and  of  his 
warm  appreciation  of  the  prayers  of  the  Endeavorers,  who 
were  called  by  telegram  and  through  the  newspapers,  by  Secre- 
tary Gates,  to  pray  for  the  recovery  of  Mrs.  Harding  when 
it  seemed  that  she  was  at  the  point  of  death  in  September,  1922. 


Chapter   LV 
Year  1921 

THE   FORTIETH   ANNIVERSARY   OF   CHRISTIAN 

ENDEAVOR 


IN    PORTLAND  AYLMER    SWEPT    BY    FIRE  WHY    I    AM    STILL 

PRESIDENT A     CROWNING     CONVENTION  THE     WON- 
DERFUL   PARADE "a    WARLESS   WORLD    BY    1 923." 

HE  year  1921  was  of  special  interest  in  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  circles,  because  on  February  2 
the  movement  had  completed  its  fortieth 
year,  and  much  was  made  of  the  occasion 
throughout  America  and  in  many  other  parts 
of  the  world.  Naturally  the  societies  in 
Portland,  Me,,  were  alive  to  the  significance  of  the  occasion. 
I  was  in  Portland  on  two  occasions  during  the  year,  one  of 
which  was  the  installation  of  the  new  pastor,  Rev.  Morris  H. 
Turk,  my  sixth  successor  in  the  Williston  pastorate,  and  on 
another  occasion  I  spoke  in  the  fine  new  city  hall  whose  muni- 
cipal organ  is  the  pride  of  Portland,  as  well  it  may  be  since  it 
is  surpassed  in  size  and  range  by  only  one  or  two  in  the 
country.  The  Sunday-afternoon  municipal  concerts  are  truly 
religious  in  music  and  in  the  addresses  that  are  provided.  The 
little  city  that  I  knew  forty-five  years  ago  has  doubled  in 
population,  and  now  numbers  over  60,000,  but  it  is  as  beauti- 
ful as  in  the  olden  days. 

A  little  meeting  of  unusual  interest  was  held  at  62  Neal 
Street,  on  February  2,  1921,  in  the  room  where  the  first 
society  was  organized.  Eight  or  ten  of  the  original  members 
were  present.     Mr.  Granville  Staples,  who  led  the  first  En- 

631 


632  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

deavor  prayer  meeting,  also  led  this  one,  and  many  were  the 
reminiscences  of  the  old  days.  The  lady  who  now  with  her 
husband  and  family  occupies  the  old  parsonage  is  a  Roman 
Catholic,  but  she  welcomed  the  little  prayer  meeting  most 
heartily  and  told  me  with  genuine  appreciation  about  it  in 
detail.  "There  stood.  Mr.  Staples,"  she  said,  "just  where 
he  stood  when  the  society  was  formed,  and  there  sat  one  of 
the  other  old  members,  and  there  sat  still  another,  and  it  was 
so  good  to  have  that  little  prayer  meeting  in  our  home." 
This,  it  seemed  to  me,  was  a  remarkable  concession  on  the  part 
of  a  good  Catholic,  and,  in  a  small  way,  foreshadowed  an  era 
of  less  bitterness  between  the  dominant  types  of  Christianity 
in  America. 

In  the  summer  of  this  year,  my  birthplace,  the  town  of 
Aylmer,  in  the  Province  of  Quebec,  was  swept  by  one  of  those 
terrific  fires  for  which  the  cities  and  villages  of  both  the 
United  States  and  Canada  have  long  had  such  an  unhappy 
pre-eminence.  I  was  glad  to  be  told  that  "  Cherry  Cottage," 
my  boyhood  home,  being  a  little  out  of  the  centre,  was  spared, 
but  the  Presbyterian  Church,  the  religious  home  of  my  father 
and  mother,  was  burned,  and  the  big  stone  house  on  Main 
Street,  where  many  say  that  I  was  born  and  lived  for  a 
few  weeks,  was  also  destroyed.  I  was  interested  in  a  little 
controversy  that  appeared  in  the  Ottawa  papers  on  this  point, 
some  claiming  that  I  was  born  in  "  Cherry  Cottage,"  while 
others,  among  them  a  former  mayor  of  Aylmer,  who  owned 
the  house  on  Main  Street,  proved  beyond  a  doubt,  as  they 
thought,  that  that  was  my  birthplace.  Of  course  that  is  a 
matter  of  little  consequence.  The  good  people  of  Aylmer, 
especially  the  Presbyterians,  propose  to  build  a  fine  edifice  not 
only  for  worship  but  for  community  purposes  as  well.  They 
have  honored  me  undeservedly  by  desiring  to  call  it  by  my 
name. 

The  great  event  of  the  year  in  Christian  Endeavor  circles 
was  of  course  the  World's  Convention  in  New  York,  which 


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FORTIETH    ANNIVERSARY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR       6^5 

gathered  into  itself  all  the  enthusiasms  and  the  memories  con- 
nected with  the  anniversary  of  two-score  years  of  organized 
life.  Great  difficulties  had  to  be  overcome,  financial  and 
otherwise,  for  many  smaller  cities  surpass  New  York  in  their 
interest  in  such  matters,  but  these  were  gradually  overcome. 
Hon.  Frederick  A.  Wallis,  Commissioner  of  Immigration  at 
Ellis  Island,  an  old-time  Kentucky  Endeavorer,  was  chosen 
chairman  of  the  committee,  and  Rev.  Harry  A.  Kinports  and 
Mr.  Marc  Edmund  Jones,  his  most  efficient  working  assistants. 
The  dates  from  July  5—1 1  proved  to  be  the  hottest  of  the 
year,  and  indeed  of  many  years.  Sultry  and  depressing,  they 
would  have  ruined  almost  any  other  gathering,  but  the  En- 
deavorers  rose  to  the  occasion,  packed  the  big  Armory  on 
Park  Avenue  and  34th  Street  morning,  afternoon,  and  evening 
,with  an  inspiring  as  well  as  a  perspiring  audience. 

It  will  be  remembered,  perhaps,  that  ten  years  before  this, 
in  1 9 II,  when  I  completed  my  sixtieth  year,  I  had  fully  in- 
tended to  insist  upon  my  resignation  as  president  of  the  United 
Society,  but  was  dissuaded  by  my  colleagues  from  doing  so. 
Ten  years  had  passed  and  it  seemed  that  now  was  of  all  others 
the  time  to  insist  upon  carrying  out  my  previous  resolution. 
These  ten  years  have  been  years  of  light  and  shadow,  of  sickness 
and  health,  of  much  travel  and  many  activities.  The  United 
Society  was  now  in  splendid  condition,  the  officers  alert  and 
efficient  in  the  highest  degree,  and  the  prospects  of  the  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  movement  never  were  so  bright  either  in 
America  or  the  world  around. 

But  again  I  was  foiled  in  my  design  by  the  urgent  en- 
treaties and  almost  peremptory  insistence  of  the  trustees  of 
the  society  and  of  the  office  force. 

Though  I  could  urge  approaching  old  age,  I  did  not  have 
the  excuse  of  shattered  health,  for  as  a  matter  of  fact,  I  was 
healthier  and  stronger  than  a  decade  before.  So  I  compro- 
mised with  my  persistent  friends  by  saying  in  my  annual  report 
to  the  trustees  that  if  they  would  relieve  me  of  all  financial 


61,6  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

responsibility  for  the  United  Society  and  the  World's  Union, 
I  would  not  at  that  time  resign  the  presidency.  They  at  once 
agreed,  and  a  financial  committee  of  trustees  was  appointed, 
of  which  Dr.  Hiram  Foulkes,  the  very  successful  promoter  of 
the  New  Era  Movement  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  was 
chairman.  Dr.  Abraham  Corey,  equally  eminent  among  the 
Disciples  of  Christ,  Dr.  Rufus  Miller,  publication  manager 
of  the  Reformed  Church,  Dr.  Haddaway,  a  well-known  leader 
in  all  Methodist  Protestant  circles,  and  Mr.  Fred  Ball,  one  of 
the  most  influential  young  men  of  the  Congregational  denomi- 
nation, were  chosen  to  be  the  other  members  of  the  committee. 

They  at  once  went  energetically  to  work  to  provide  for  a 
yearly  budget  of  $75,000  for  World-wide  Endeavor.  As 
I  write,  the  prospects  are  bright  for  the  complete  success  of 
this  effort,  and  I  am  still  President  of  the  United  Society  and 
the  World's  Union  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

To  return  to  the  convention,  I  cannot  recount  the  notable 
speakers  whose  words  will  long  be  remembered,  the  quiet  de- 
votional hours  each  morning,  the  schools  of  methods  and  of 
Bible  study,  or  the  hilarious  banquets,  which,  either  for  Junior 
workers  or  Intermediates  or  the  Alumni  or  the  special  groups 
of  Endeavorers  were  held  almost  every  day. 

The  most  unique  feature  of  the  convention  was  an  enormous 
procession  of  15,000  delegates  that  marched  up  Fifth  Avenue 
to  the  "  Sheep  Pasture  "  in  Central  Park,  and  there  listened 
to  one  of  the  most  rousing  addresses  ever  given  by  Hon. 
William  J.  Bryan  on  World-Fellowship  and  Peace.  Dele- 
gates from  every  State  were  in  the  line  of  the  procession,  and 
each  delegate  wore  a  simple  costume  featuring  his  own  State 
colors.  The  near-by  States,  Pennsylvania,  Connecticut,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  New  Jersey,  and,  of  course,  up-state  New  York, 
had  hundreds,  and  in  one  or  two  instances,  thousands  in  cos- 
tume. The  police  kept  the  beautiful  avenue  clear  of  all  other 
trafiic,  and  tens  of  thousands  lined  the  sidewalks  even  up  to 
the  Park. 


FORTIETH    ANNIVERSARY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR       637 

There  were  some  unusually  beautiful  floats  in  the  proces- 
sion, several  of  particular  significance  representing  scenes  from 
Pilgrim's  Progress. 

A  matter  of  most  practical  importance  for  the  future  was  the 
launching  of  "  The  Four-Square  Campaign,"  outlined  in  the 
annual  message  of  the  president,  a  campaign  for  construction, 
reconstruction,  loyalty,  and  fellowship,  a  new  campaign  for 
old  principles  which  naturally  recognized  the  four  divisions  of 
Christian  Endeavor,  the  four  great  purposes  for  which  it 
stands,  and  the  four  special  methods  by  which  it  accomplishes 
its  work.  "  Never  say  '  no  '  to  God  "  was  the  motto  suggested 
for  the  campaign. 

It  was  taken  up  afterwards  by  all  the  State  unions  and 
many  of  the  local  unions,  and  I  soon  heard  echoes  of  it  from 
Great  Britain  and  Australia,  Germany  and  India,  and  other 
lands  the  world  around. 

Naturally  world-fellowship  and  peace  were  the  dominant 
notes  in  this  World's  Convention,  with  delegates  representing 
many  lands,  races,  and  colors.  Mr.  Bryan,  Dr.  Landrith, 
and  Fred  B.  Smith,  Rev.  John  Pollock  of  Ireland,  and  others 
made  tremendously  powerful  addresses  on  these  subjects.  Not 
only  America,  but  all  the  world  was  ready  to  receive  at  this 
time  such  a  message,  so  distressed  and  sick  at  heart  had  the 
nations  become  with  the  terrific  struggle  that  had  wrecked 
continental  Europe  and  the  civilization  of  the  world. 

Mr.  Smith  pleaded  for  a  "  warless  world."  Dr.  Landrith 
in  a  remarkable  set  of  resolutions  voicing  the  opinion  of  the 
convention  emphasized  this  idea  with  new  vigor,  and  the 
president  of  the  United  Society  in  his  closing  five  minutes 
ventured  to  propose  the  slogan  "  A  Warless  World  by  1923." 

This  slogan  gave  big  headlines  to  many  papers  throughout 
the  country,  and  though  it  was  considered  by  some  daringly 
foolish,  others  commended  it  as  not  an  impossibility,  in  view 
of  the  Conference  for  the  Limitation  of  Armaments,  which 
had  been  proposed  that  very  week  by  President  Harding. 


638  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Endeavorers,  remembering  that  the  war  cry  of  the  Atlantic 
City  Convention  in  191 1,  "A  Saloonless  Nation  by  1920, 
the  three  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  Landing  of  the  Pil- 
grims," had  been  realized,  felt  that  the  new  date,  which  would 
coincide  with  the  next  international  convention  to  be  held  at 
Des  Moines,  lo.,  was  not  too  near  for  at  least  the  beginning 
of  a  Warless  World. 

The  only  shadows  upon  this  convention  were  the  illnesses 
of  former  secretary  Shaw,  who  was  unable  to  attend  the  meet- 
ings, and  a  terrible  accident  to  Dr.  Daniel  Poling  and  his 
family  on  their  way  by  automobile  from  their  summer  home 
in  New  Hampshire  to  New  York.  For  a  time  Dr.  Poling's 
life  was  despaired  of,  and  all  the  family  had  broken  bones  or 
bruises,  but  in  a  miraculously  short  time,  considering  the 
seriousness  of  the  accident,  Dr.  Poling  was  able  partly  to 
resume  his  work,  and  the  others  wholly  recovered  from  their 
breaks  and  bruises. 

Not  only  was  world-solidarity  in  the  mincis  of  all,  but  the 
thought  that  Christian  Endeavor  was  now  found  in  every  land 
beneath  the  sun,  bringing  the  young  people  of  the  world  into 
a  new  fellowship  was  naturally  dominant  in  the  convention  and 
afterwards.  We  had  learned  of  societies  in  all  the  struggling 
new  countries  of  Europe.  In  some  of  them  they  had  existed 
before,  while  in  others  they  were  just  being  formed.  Germany 
had  more  than  doubled  her  Endeavor  hosts  j  Latvia,  Esthonia, 
Poland,  Czecho-Slovakia,  Hungary,  Jugo-Slavia,  Transyl- 
vania, were  calling  for  financial  help  and  sympathy  from  the 
United  Society,  and  Mrs.  Clark  and  I  felt  that  we  should 
strive  to  finish  the  European  journey  which  we  had  begun 
nearly  two  years  before,  but  which,  by  reason  of  revolutions 
and  passport  difliculties,  we  had  not  been  able  fully  to  accom- 
plish. So  on  November  19,  1921,  we  bade  adieu  once  more 
to  our  dear  friends  and  kinsfolk  and  sailed  for  Havre  on  the 
French  steamer  "  La  Savoie." 


Chapter   LVI 
Years  1921— 1922 

FIVE   MONTHS   IN    CENTRAL    EUROPE 


CLASSICAL    FREIBURG WITH    OUR    ARMY    ON    THE    RHINE 

GERMANY  IN    I922 VICTORIOUS  AND  VIGOROUS  CZECHO- 
SLOVAKIA   DESPOILED       HUNGARY THE      WONDERFUL 

BETHANIA    UNION  POLAND    AND    HER    ENDEAVORERS 

DENMARK,    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,    WALES HOME. 

HOUGH  we  landed  in  France  our  stay  there 
was  short  because  of  the  cold  weather  and 
the  high  prices.  We  could  not  keep  warm  in 
any  hotel  we  could  afford,  for  it  was  an 
unusually  cold  winter  throughout  Europe, 
and  we  found  that  prices  had  doubled  since 
we  were  in  Paris  two  years  before.  We  soon  made  our  way 
to  Freibui-g,  the  capital  of  the  Black  Forest  of  Baden,  and 
here  in  a  very  comfortable  hotel  we  stayed  for  two  months, 
and  I  was  able,  with  the  help  of  Mrs,  Clark's  typewriter  and 
her  nimble  lingers,  to  finish  the  last  third  of  this  volume. 

We  found  Freiburg,  as  we  had  found  it  before  in  191 2, 
a  very  delightful  little  city,  giving  comparatively  few  evi- 
dences of  the  dreadful  war  through  which  it  had  passed.  And 
yet  it  had  by  no  means  escaped  the  ravages  of  the  conflict. 
More  than  three  hundred  bombs  had  fallen  in  the  city  during 
the  war,  the  famous  medical  college  had  been  destroyed,  as 
well  as  a  large  theatre,  and  apartment  houses  in  which  many 
people  had  been  killed.  None  of  these  bombings  had  been 
recorded  in  American  or  English  papers.  This  was  only  one 
evidence  of  the  way  governments  on  both  sides  had  tampered 

639 


640  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

with  the  news,  suppressnig  everything  unfavorable  and  laud- 
ing everything  that  seemed  to  be  of  advantage  to  the  side  of 
the  country  that  published  the  information. 


Spire  of  the  Wonderful  Cathedral  in  Freiberg 

There  were  other  signs  of  the  effects  of  the  war,  which, 
though  more  prosaic  than  bombed  buildings  and  slaughtered 
citizens  were  very  practical  evidences  of  war's  horrors.     For 


FIVE    MONTHS    IN    CENTRAL    EUROPE  64I 

instance  we  had  no  milk  or  butter  during  all  our  stay  in  Ger- 
many, and  the  tiniest  lumps  of  sugar  pretended  to  sweeten  our 
coffee.  The  merest  trickle  of  condensed  milk  thinned  out  to 
the  nth  degree,  and  different  kinds  of  butter  substitutes,  graced 
the  table,  for  most  of  the  cows  had  been  commandeered  by 
France,  and  what  little  fresh  milk  there  was,  was  reserved 
for  infants  and  invalids  and  could  be  had  only  by  a  doctor's 
prescription. 

It  was  a  city  of  almost  no  automobiles  and  few  horses,  these 
means  of  transport  having  been  sent  across  the  border.  Never- 
theless, the  city  seemed  to  carry  on  its  business  and  to  be  fairly 
prosperous,  human  muscle  largely  taking  the  place  of  horse 
flesh  and  electricity  as  a  means  of  transportation.  In  some 
cases  the  poverty  of  the  people  was  pathetic,  especially  of  the 
aged  and  those  dependent  upon  a  small  fixed  income,  which 
had  been  rendered  almost  worthless  by  the  depreciation  of 
the  currency.  When  we  first  reached  Germany  the  exchange 
rate  was  about  150  marks  to  the  dollar,  the  normal  value  of 
the  mark  being  twenty-four  cents  instead  of  three-quarters  of 
a  cent,  to  which  it  had  dropped.  When  we  left  Germany  five 
months  later  it  had  dropped  to  330  marks  to  the  dollar.  I 
felt  almost  ashamed  to  take  advantage  of  this  terrible  depre- 
ciation, though  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  tradesmen  and  others 
were  glad  to  get  American  money,  whatever  the  premium 
might  be.  As  I  finish  the  proof-reading  the  rate  is  5,700 
marks  to  the  dollar. 

The  surroundings  of  Freiburg,  as  I  have  remarked  in 
another  chapter,  are  ideal,  and  I  took  many  a  long  walk  into 
the  Black  Forest,  along  the  lovely,  well-beaten  paths,  greatly 
to  the  refreshment  of  soul  and  body.  For  the  first  month  of 
our  stay  we  had  comparatively  few  interruptions,  but  then 
our  Christian  Endeavor  friends  found  out  where  we  were  and 
many  invitations  were  received,  only  a  few  of  which  we  could 
accept,  since  we  had  gonq  to  Freiburg  especially  as  a  quiet 
refuge  for  writing  and  for  rest. 


642  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Early  in  February  we  left  hospitable  Freiburg,  and  after 
brief  but  very  delightful  visits  to  Liebenzell  and  Karlsruhe, 
reached  Coblenz  barely  in  advance  of  a  universal  railroad 
strike  which  kept  us  there  for  ten  days. 

Liebenzell  is  a  gem  of  a  place,  also  in  the  Black  Forest,  but 
in  the  kingdom  of  Wurtemburg.  Here  has  long  been  estab- 
lished a  Faith  Mission,  which  has  sent  out  its  missionaries 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  It  is  a  health  resort,  with  many 
springs  of  medicinal  value,  and  two  or  three  great  hotels,  but 
it  has  been  made  famous,  not  by  its  springs  or  its  mountains, 
so  much  as  by  its  noble  mission  training-school,  and  its  godly 
leaders,  like  Dr.  Korper,  the  head  of  the  institution,  and 
others  whom  I  might  mention. 

Karslruhe  is  the  capital  of  Baden  and  a  beautiful  city,  with 
one  of  the  finest  royal  palaces  and  royal  parks  in  all  Germany. 
Here  we  met  a  fine  assembly  of  Christian  Endeavorers  from 
all  the  vicinity,  and  had  a  meeting  remarkable  for  its  numbers 
and  its  cordiality.  Before  the  meeting  we  were  serenaded  by 
an  excellent  Christian  Endeavor  brass  band.  During  the  prog- 
ress of  the  evening  a  Christian  Endeavor  orchestra  with  the 
Christian  Endeavor  monogram  on  every  instrument,  and  a 
mixed  choir,  furnished  delightful  music.  One  characteristic 
of  Christian  Endeavor  in  Germany  is  its  consecrated  music,  both 
vocal  and  instrumental.  Not  only  are  the  old  German  chorals 
splendidly  sung,  but  many  of  the  later  gospel  songs  are  also 
greatly  enjoyed  by  the  young  people. 

Karlsruhe,  too,  suffered  greatly  during  the  war.  It  is  said 
to  have  been  bombed  every  other  day  for  two  years.  In  one 
of  the  attacks  of  the  French  planes,  thirty  little  children  were 
killed,  as  they  were  enjoying  a  school  holiday  in  one  of  the 
parks. 

Our  ten  days  in  Coblenz  (where,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
strike  we  should  have  enjoyed  but  one)  furnished  us  with  a 
unique  experience.  The  leaders  of  the  Endeavor  society  in 
the  American  Army  of  Occupation  had  told  the  senior  chaplain, 


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FIVE    MONTHS    IN    CENTRAL    EUROPE  645 

Dr.  Estabrook,  of  our  expected  visit.  Whereupon  he  billeted 
us  at  the  Coblenzerhof  Hotel,  the  best  in  the  city,  which  had 
been  taken  over  by  the  American  army.  To  that  extent  we 
were  the  guests  of  the  Army  of  Occupation,  and  I  was  im- 
pressed into  the  service  as  a  sort  of  assistant  chaplain,  preaching 
on  the  Sundays  for  the  senior  chaplain  in  the  Palace  Chapel, 
and  speaking  in  the  Y.M.C.A.  huts,  or  to  the  soldiers  in  other 
groups  almost  every  day. 

I  was  glad  to  notice  the  friendliness  and  good  will  that 
existed  between  the  German  populace  and  the  American 
soldiers.  Our  troops  had  been  polite  and  considerate  to  the 
Germans,  who  reciprocated  their  good  will.  American  officers 
and  Y.M.C.A.  secretaries  were  billeted  in  the  best  German 
houses,  many  of  them  genuine  palaces,  while  the  owners  found 
refuge  in  the  second  or  third  story,  yet  I  heard  of  no  friction 
or  ill  feeling,  but  only  of  a  genuine  regret  on  the  part  of  the 
inhabitants  that  the  American  troops  must  leave  them  so  soon 
after  our  visit,  to  be  replaced  by  the  hated  and  hating  French. 

The  last  meeting  that  we  attended,  on  the  evening  of  our 
departure,  was  a  joint  Christian  Endeavor  meeting  between 
the  Endeavorers  of  Coblenz  and  the  "  American  Society  on 
the  Rhine,"  as  the  soldiers'  society  was  called.  It  was  a  most 
brotherly  gathering.  Cordial  words  were  spoken  in  both 
languages,  and  before  the  meeting  broke  up  that  hymn  which 
seems  to  be  inevitable  on  such  occasions,  "  Blest  be  the  tie  that 
binds,"  was  sung. 

I  was  glad  to  notice  that  after  the  American  services  in  the 
Royal  Chapel,  where  Emperor  William's  mother  worshipped 
during  her  long  residence  in  the  city,  several  American  flags 
which  decorated  the  audience  room  were  removed  by  the 
senior  chaplain  out  of  deference  to  the  feelings  of  the  Ger- 
mans who  occupied  the  chapel  for  an  hour's  service  immediately 
after  the  Americans.  Such  considerateness  was  significant  of 
the  good  feeling  which  had  begun  to  prevail  between  the 
victors  and  the  vanquished. 


646  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

At  last  the  long  and  disastrous  railroad  strike  was  over,  and 
we  took  the  first  through  train  from  Coblenz  to  Berlin.  Here, 
too,  our  welcome  was  an  extraordinary  one.  Though  the 
great  Christian  Endeavor  meeting  which  had  been  widely 
advertised  had  been  postponed  because  of  the  strike  that  had 
suspended  all  travel,  and  the  postponed  meeting  had  to  be  held 
with  very  little  advance  notice,  the  beautiful  hall  in  the 
Herrenhaus,  the  former  House  of  the  Lords  of  the  Prussian 


Dr.  and  Mrs.  Clark  with  Two  Endeavor  Soldiers  in  Coblenz 

President  Fritz  and  Secretary  Lanning  of  the  Army  Christian  Endeavor 

Society,  on  either  side. 

parliament,  was  thronged  with  an  enthusiastic  crowd  of  young 
people,  fully  two  thousand  of  them,  it  was  said.  No  more 
cordial  words  could  have  been  spoken  by  the  director  and 
secretary  of  the  German  union,  and  by  the  district  and  city 
unions  as  well.  A  fine  luncheon  had  been  served  in  the  splen- 
did banquet  hall  and  everything  was  indicative  of  the  strong 
place  which  Christian  Endeavor  held  in  the  republican  empire. 


FIVE    MONTHS    IN    CENTRAL    EUROPE 


647 


I  learned  that  the  societies  had  increased  to  more  than  1,200, 
and  that  in  a  thousand  more  places  a  desire  had  been  expressed 
for  the  formation  of  societies. 

One  pleasant  feature  of  our  stay  was  a  visit  to  Friedrichs- 
hagen,  the  headquarters  of  Christian  Endeavor  in  Germany, 
where  Director  Schiirman,  and  Secretary  Blecher  have  their 
homes,  as  well  as  some  twenty  more  officers  and  employees  of 
the  Endeavor  headquarters.     Here  a  Christian  Endeavor  press 


Christian  Endeavor  Office  Staff  at  German  Christian  Endeavor 
Headquarters,  Friedrichshagen  bei  Berlin 

Rev.  Pastor  Schiirman,  Director  of  German  Christian  Endeavor,  stands  at  the 
right,  his  wife  sits  near  him  in  the  front  row,  their  two  children  at  their 
right.  Mrs.  Blecher,  with  her  daughter  standing  beside  her,  at  the  left.  The 
General  Secretary  of  the  German  Union,  Rev.  F.  Blecher,  stands  behind  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Clark.  Mr.  Wetsig,  editor  and  publisher,  is  the  fourth  in  the  back 
row  from  the  left.  The  others  are  in  the  secretarial  and  printing  offices.  A 
large  publishing  business  in  several  languages  is  done  in  the  building  in  the  rear, 
which  also  is  the  home  of  the  Director  and  Secretary. 

prints  and  sends  out  a  great  amount  of  literature,  and  from 
here  gracious  influences  extend  to  the  farthest  borders  of  the 
Fatherland,  and  into  all  the  countries  round  about. 

Our  first  side-journey  from  Berlin  took  us  to  Czecho-Slo- 


648  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

vakia  and  Hungary,  two  countries  as  much  opposed  to  each 
other  politically  and  racially  as  can  well  be  imagined.  The 
conqueror  and  the  conquered,  the  Slav  and  the  Magyar,  the 
despoiled  and  the  despoiler,  were  geographically  divided  only 
by  an  imaginary  line,  but  really- by  an  absolutely  impassable 
line,  so  far  as  good  feeling  and  kindly  interest  were  concerned. 
Only  in  certain  lines  of  religious  activity  was  there  any 
approach  to  each  other  by  these  antipathetic  races. 

Czecho-Slovakia  had  come  out  of  the  war  with  greatly 
enlarged  boundaries  and  resources,  free,  and  independent  of 
her  former  rulers,  and  with  high,  not  to  say  grandiloquent, 
hopes  and  aspirations  to  be  the  leader  of  the  "  Little  Entente." 
Hungary  had  been  despoiled  by  order  of  Versailles  of  two- 
thirds  of  her  territory,  not  given  to  Czecho-Slovakia  alone,  but 
to  all  the  immediately  surrounding  nations.  She  had  lost  her 
coal,  her  copper,  and  her  salt,  the  great  forests  that  covered 
her  beloved  ancestral  mountains,  and,  in  fact,  all  her  resources 
except  part  of  her  agricultural  lands. 

The  Czechs  look  back  upon  centuries  of  oppression  under 
the  Hapsburgs  in  which  they  believe  that  the  Hungarians  had 
had  their  full  share.  No  wonder  that  the  feeling  between  the 
two  races  was  intensely  bitter. 

One  way  in  which  these  feelings  were  manifested  was  in 
their  different  estimates  of  President  Wilson.  The  Czechs 
lauded  him  to  the  skies,  naming  streets  and  parks  and  even 
railway  stations  after  him  in  their  larger  cities,  hanging  his 
picture  everywhere,  as  companion  to  the  portrait  of  their  be- 
loved Masaryk,  and  placing  him  in  the  first  rank  of  mortals 
as  a  defender  of  the  rights  of  small  nations. 

The  Magyars,  on  the  other  hand,  regarded  him  as  the  be- 
trayer of  the  old  "  enemy  nations,"  declaring  that  he  had  led 
them  to  accept  the  armistice  by  proclaiming  his  "  fourteen 
points,"  and  then  repudiating  them  when  he  had  the  conquered 
nations  at  his  mercy.  In  vain  I  tried  to  persuade  them  that 
President  Wilson  alone  did  not  engineer  the  Peace  of  Ver- 


FIVE    MONTHS    IN    CENTRAL    EUROPE 


649 


sailles,  but  that  his  benevolent  intentions  were  largely  thwarted 
by  Clemenceau  and  other  Allied  leaders. 

However,  Christian  Endeavor  had  an  equally  free  course  in 
both  countries  and  the  welcome  we  received  was  delightfully 
warm  on  both  sides  of  the  national  boundary.  The  movement 
had  naturally  made  little  progress  in  Czecho-Slovakia  be- 
cause, until  very  recently,  the  comparatively  few  Protestants 
had   had   small    opportunities   to   propagate   their   faith   and 


j'-^y  ^ 


Statue  of  John  Huss 

Erected  in  the  principal  square  of  Prague  after  the  fall  of  the  Hapsburg 

dynasty. 

methods  of  work.  However,  under  the  leadership  and  guid- 
ance of  our  good  friend.  Rev.  J.  S.  Porter,  of  the  American 
Congregational  Mission  Board,  we  had  large  and,  I  hope,  fruit- 
ful meetings  in  Prague,  Pilsen,  Brno,  Hradec,  and  Bratislava. 
All  of  these  are  most  interesting  cities,  and  are  famous  in  the 
song  and  story  of  ancient  times.  The  "  Los  von  Rom  "  move- 
ment was  at  high  tide  when  we  were  in  the  republic,  and  it  ,was 
said  that  a  million  people,  some  said  two  millions,  had  left  the 
ancient  church  to  form  a  purely  national  Czecho-Slavic  church. 


6S0  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

It  was  not  however  so  much  a  movement  toward  Protestantism 
as  away  from  Rome.  The  forms  and  ceremonies  of  the  Catho- 
lic church  were  largely  retained,  though  the  Pope  was  repudi- 
ated. The  Czech  Brethren  Church,  the  devoted  followers  of 
John  Huss,  had  gained  somewhat  in  numbers,  but  the  new- 
comers apparently  knew  little  of  the  true  tenets  or  spirit  of 
Protestantism.  It  seemed  to  me  that  the  movement  had  already 
begun  to  wane  somewhat,  partly  because  many  of  the  four 
hundred  priests  who  at  first  came  out  had  gone  back  to  Rome, 
and  there  were  few  to  lead  the  multitudes,  or  to  administer 
the  sacraments,  which  the  masses  of  the  people  still  deemed 
essential.  Nevertheless  the  movement  had  greatly  stirred  up 
the  minds  and  consciences  of  the  Czechs,  and  will  doubtless 
result  in  largely  increased  intellectual  and  religious  freedom. 

In  Hungary,  as  I  have  related  in  other  chapters.  Christian 
Endeavor  has  long  had  a  strong  foothold,  and  the  Bethania 
Christian  Endeavor  Union  has  for  years  been  famous  for  the 
quality  of  its  leaders  and  for  their  complete  consecration,  a 
devotion  to  God's  work  which  has  enabled  them  to  suffer  and 
be  strong  in  these  days  of  tribulation  and  distress  that  have 
followed  the  World  War.  Hungary  has  indeed  been  one  of 
the  world's  chief  sufferers.  She  has  not  only  lost  most  of  her 
territory  as  well  as  her  resources,  but  has  suffered  terribly  from 
internal  and  external  enemies.  The  Czechs  on  the  West,  the 
Roumanians  on  the  East,  the  Jugo-Slavs  on  the  South,  and  the 
Russians  on  the  North  have  all  had  a  hand  in  her  sore  afflic- 
tion, while  the  four  months'  reign  of  the  Communists  under 
Bela  Kun  was  the  most  tragic  and  disastrous  era  in  her  whole 
history.  During  this  period,  while  the  Bolshevists  were  in- 
trenched in  her  magnificent  capital,  hundreds  of  Hungary's 
noblest  men  were  murdered  in  cold  blood,  their  bodies  thrown 
into  the  Danube,  which  tells  no  tales. 

The  rich  people  were  plundered,  and  even  the  homes  of  the 
poor  were  pillaged.  The  paper  stock  and  all  the  literature  of 
the  Bethania  Christian  Endeavor  Union  were  seized  and  car- 


FIVE    MONTHS    IN    CENTRAL    EUROPE  65 1 

ried  off.  Fortunately  the  rule  of  the  Communists  came  to  an 
end  before  the  stock  was  destroyed,  and  the  Endeavorers  re- 
covered most  of  it.  So  great  became  the  distress  because  of 
the  wholesale  murder  and  thievery  that  prevailed,  and  be- 
cause of  the  post-war  poverty  and  the  impossibility  of  trading 
with  their  neighbors,  that  many  starved  to  death  and  a  multi- 
tude committed  suicide.  I  was  told  by  Dr.  Kiss,  perhaps  the 
most  eminent  professor  of  anatomy  in  all  Europe,  that  even 
now,  two  years  after  the  peak  of  their  troubles  had  been  passed, 
between  five  and  six  hundred  people  attempted  suicide  every 
month,  a  terrible  testimony  indeed  to  their  destitution  and 
hopelessness. 

In  the  midst  of  this  distressful  gloom  the  zeal  and  untiring 
devotion  of  the  Bethania  Union  shines  out  gloriously.  Never 
have  I  seen  more  consecrated  leaders,  greater  faith  or  more 
untiring  energy  than  is  displayed  by  this  noble  group. 
Many  are  men  and  women  of  eminence  in  other  walks  of  life. 
Dr.  Molnar,  the  president,  is  a  distinguished  lawyer  and  judge. 
Baron  Podmanisky  is  a  professor  of  Greek  and  Hebrew  in  the 
Reformed  Theological  Seminary.  Dr.  Csia  is  a  well-known 
physician  with  a  very  large  practice.  Rev.  Thomas  Vargha  is 
a  successful  pastor  belonging  to  a  distinguished  family,  his 
father,  acknowledged  as  one  of  the  most  eminent  poets  of 
Hungary,  having  been  one  of  the  ministers  of  state  in  the  old 
government.  Dr.  Kiss,  to  whom  I  have  already  alluded,  is 
probably  not  surpassed  by  any  anatomist  in  the  world,  while 
Fraulein  Irma  Pauer,  the  treasurer  of  the  union,  is  known  far 
and  wide  for  her  executive  ability  and  her  successes  on  the 
mission  field  as  well  as  at  home. 

Before  the  war  many  societies  existed  in  Budapest  and  vicin- 
ity, but  they  were  scattered  and  peeled  by  the  great  conflict,  and 
its  worse  aftermath  of  Bolshevism,  so  that  now  there  are  be- 
longing to  this  union  only  some  250  members,  but  all  of  them 
stalwarts.  Only  those  of  consecrated  lives  and  of  willing  hands 
are  admitted,  but  these,  small  in  numbers,  have  organized  and 


6S'2'  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

carried  on  forty-eight  Sunday  schools.  They  hold  nine 
evangelistic  meetings  every  week,  and  as  many  more  for  the 
Juniors.  They  visit  the  three  great  prisons  of  Budapest 
every  week,  to  which  they  now  have  free  access  j  they  have  a 
mission  for  blind  soldiers  as  well  as  for  blind  children  j  have 
meetings  for  fallen  women,  and  also  for  the  thousands  of 
people  who  live  in  box  cars  in  the  outskirts  of  the  city,  because 
there  are  no  homes  for  them  in  the  terribly  congested  metro- 
polis which  shelters  hundreds  of  thousands  of  refugees. 

The  most  unique  work  of  the  Bethania  Union  is  done  by  the 
so-called  "  suicide  committee,"  the  only  committee  of  its  kind, 
I  venture  to  say,  among  all  the  millions  of  Endeavorers.  This 
committee  sends  its  members  to  seek  out  in  the  hospitals  the 
would-be  suicides  who  were  not  able  fully  to  succeed  in  their 
design.  The  committee  comforts  them,  gives  them  good  cheer, 
tells  them  that  heaven  is  not  lost,  and  that  they  may  still  have 
hope  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  brings  them  back  to  health  and 
sanity. 

After  two  or  three  days  in  the  capital  we  visited  Debreczen, 
the  great  centre  of  Protestantism  in  the  republic,  the  cradle  of 
Hungarian  liberty,  where  Kossuth  first  proclaimed  the  national 
independence  of  Hungary.  Afterwards  we  visited  Nyiregy- 
haza,  another  leading  city  of  the  Magyars.  Here  we  found 
the  same  untiring  devotion  as  among  the  Endeavorers  of  Buda- 
pest, and  here  too,  we  were  greeted  by  a  great  throng  of  inter- 
ested workers.  Such  a  crowd  indeed,  thronged  the  big  hall 
that  for  some  time  we  were  unable  to  push  our  way  through 
the  crowd  that  blocked  the  aisles  and  passageways,  until  strenu- 
ous efforts  had  been  made  to  force  a  passage  for  us  to  the  plat- 
form. Here  Endeavorers  had  a  mission  to  crippled  children, 
and  had  built  with  their  own  hands  the  modest  building  which 
already  houses  a  few  little  unfortunates.  If  every  community 
possessed  a  Madame  Sholtess,  the  President  of  the  union,  who 
devotes  her  fortune  as  well  as  all  her  energies  to  the  work, 
this  world  would  indeed  be  a  different  place. 


FIVE    MONTHS    IN    CENTRAL    EUROPE  653 

Going  back  to  Germany  for  a  short  breathing  spell,  we  soon 
started  on  another  difficult  journey,  this  time  to  the  Free  City 
of  Danzig,  and  then  on  to  Poland.  As  is  well  known,  the 
treaty  of  Versailles  cut  Germany  in  two  by  decreeing  a  neutral 
corridor  from  central  Poland  to  the  sea,  making  Danzig  a  free 
city.  This  has  naturally  resulted  in  much  heart-burning  and 
many  customs  and  passport  complications,  so  that  our  passports 
,were  vised  and  our  baggage  examined  at  least  four  times  on 
this  comparatively  short  journey. 


A  Junior  Society  in  Viecbork.  (Vandsburg)  Poland 


The  Free  City  of  Danzig  has  a  large  commerce,  and 
many  substantial  buildings  and  memorials  of  former  greatness 
and  present  prosperity.  During  the  Sunday  that  we  spent 
there  we  met  hundreds  of  friendly  Endeavorers,  and  the  next 
morning  early  started  off  in  a  cold  and  comfortless  train  for 
Vandsburg,  or  Viecbork,  as  it  is  now  called  in  the  Polish 
tongue.  Formerly  it  was  in  the  German  province  of  Pome- 
rania,  and  its  people  are  largely  German-speaking.  It  would 
be  an  unattractive  little  town  were  it  not  for  the  great  Deaconess 


654  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Institution,  which  has  made  it  famous  religiously  throughout 
Europe.  Here  a  large  number  of  deaconesses  are  trained,  in 
a  most  devout  and  intense  religious  atmosphere,  for  helpful 
service  of  all  kinds,  as  nurses  and  helpers  of  the  poor.  As 
spiritual  guides  and  religious  leaders  they  do  a  notable  work 
throughout  Germany  and  Poland. 

This  establishment  is  one  of  four  under  the  same  manage- 
ment, the  headquarters  being  in  Marburg  in  Germany.  Every 
year  a  Christian  Endeavor  conference  is  held  in  Vandsburg, 
which  brings  together  the  young  people  from  far  and  near. 
On  account  of  the  greatly  depreciated  currency,  the  poverty  of 
the  people,  and  the  difficulties  of  travel  we  expected  to  see 
comparatively  few  young  people  at  this  meeting.  What  was 
our  surprise  to  find  that  some  650  had  gathered,  many  of  them 
coming  two  hundred  miles  or  more.  As  the  number  was  far 
greater  than  had  been  anticipated  the  mission  was  hard  put  to 
it  to  accommodate  so  many,  but  the  young  men  were  willing  to 
"  endure  hardness  "  for  the  sake  of  the  religious  uplift  they 
received,  and  were  ready  to  sleep  in  barns  or  open  sheds  on 
heaps  of  straw.  In  other  ways,  too,  they  showed  their  endur- 
ance and  religious  zeal,  for  they  were  willing  to  listen  to  three 
or  four  sermons  in  succession  in  a  three  hours'  sitting  of  the 
convention,  and  they  showed  no  signs  of  weariness. 

What  a  sweet  wholesome  air  of  loving  kindness  pervaded 
this  retreat  on  the  wind-swept  fields  of  Poland!  The  Sisters 
seemed  to  perform  the  humblest  duties,  actuated  by  the  highest 
motives.  They  scrubbed  the  immaculate  floors  as  though  it 
was  their  greatest  joy,  and  performed  the  meanest  household 
duties  with  smiles  on  their  faces  and  songs  on  their  lips,  and  I 
believe  in  their  hearts  as  well. 

When  we  were  ushered  into  the  best  room  in  the  building, 
named  "  Thyatira,"  after  one  of  the  Seven  Cities  of  Asia,  we 
found  our  table  heaped  with  flowers  and  fruits  and  delicious 
cakes,  and  also  many  hand-painted  mottoes  and  pictures.  One 
of  these  mottoes  which  they  deemed  peculiarly  appropriate  was 


FIVE    MONTHS    IN    CENTRAL    EUROPE  6SS 

a  quotation  from  the  Psalms,  illuminated,  and  painted  on  a 
wide  ribbon.     It  read  in  English: 

"  They   shall  still  bring  forth   fruit  in   old  age; 
They  shall  be  fat  and  flourishing^^ 

We  admitted  the  "  old  age  "  if  not  the  "  fat  and  flourishing." 
We  shall  long  remember  the  kindness  of  Oberschwester  Marie, 
and  Schwester  Marthe,  a  graduate  nurse  who  assiduously 
dressed  an  infected  felon  on  my  finger,  which  had  given  me 
much  trouble,  and  started  it  on  the  way  to  recovery.  Indeed, 
all  the  sisters  so  ministered  to  our  comfort  and  happiness  that 
we  can  never  forget  their  kindness. 

Pastor  Mund,  the  director  of  the  work  and  the  brotherhood 
which  is  established  near-by.  Pastor  Stalder  of  Danzig,  the 
president  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Union  of  Poland,  Pastor 
Poppek,  the  secretary  of  the  union,  and  many  of  the  leading 
Protestant  pastors  of  Poland,  who  had  come  to  the  gathering, 
all  endeared  themselves  to  us  in  our  brief  stay.  We  left  Vands- 
burg  with  only  happy  memories,  and  with  new  courage  for  the 
future,  since  we  have  seen  how  those  who  have  come  out  of 
great  tribulation  were  able  to  maintain  their  faith  and  hope 
and  good  cheer,  never  slackening  their  zeal  in  the  Lord's  work. 

An  incident  occurred  on  the  way  back  to  Germany  which 
would  have  confirmed  my  faith  in  the  goodness  of  human 
nature  had  it  needed  confirmation.  We  reached  Konitz,  on  the 
border  of  Poland,  after  a  long  cold  ride  on  a  dilapidated,  war- 
worn railway,  riding  in  darkness  the  last  half  of  the  way,  the 
train  not  being  lighted  at  all.  At  the  station  we  were  met  by 
two  ladies,  one  a  teacher  of  English,  who  conducted  us,  though 
absolute  strangers,  to  one  of  the  best  homes  in  the  town.  Here 
a  hot  supper  awaited  us  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  later 
a  comfortable  bed,  while  the  next  morning,  long  before  day- 
light, our  hostess  prepared  a  hot  breakfast.  Our  host  guided 
us  to  the  station  in  the  darkness  of  an  intensely  cold  morning, 
smoothed  the  way  for  us  with  the  crusty  custom-house  officers 


6s6  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

and  the  passport  officer,  and  the  one  who  searched  me  with  con- 
scientious care  for  any  money  I  might  have  on  my  person,  and 
started  us  off  for  Berlin  with  the  cockles  of  our  hearts  warmed 
with  a  new  admiration  for  the  exceeding  kindness  of  folks  in 
strange  and  distant  lands, 

I  must  hurry  over  the  rest  of  this  journey,  for  this  chapter 
is  already  too  long.  After  a  few  more  days  in  Germany  our 
programme  took  us  to  Copenhagen,  where  a  small  but  repre- 
sentative gathering  of  Scandinavian  Endeavorers,  under  the 
leadership  of  Pastor  Klaeboe  of  Christiania,  and  Pastor  Kent 
of  Copenhagen,  sought  to  inaugurate  plans  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  cause  in  Denmark,  where  Christian  Endeavor  has 
always  lagged,  as  well  as  in  the  rest  of  Scandinavia.  Repre- 
sentatives of  Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden,  Germany,  and 
Esthonia  came  together  for  several  days  of  helpful  conference. 

Then  our  journey  led  us  back  to  Germany  once  more  for 
a  few  hours,  and  then  to  Holland  for  a  couple  of  meetings  in 
The  Helder  and  in  Rotterdam.  The  currency  difficulties  were 
impressed  upon  us  when  I  tried  to  get  some  German  money  ex- 
changed for  Dutch  currency,  which  is  nearer  pre-war  value  than 
any  other  European  country  except  Switzerland.  Having  435 
German  marks  in  my  pocket,  the  money  changer  would  give 
me  but  two  guilders  and  some  odd  Dutch  cents  for  that  amount. 

Indeed,  throughout  all  this  journey  currency  difficulties  beset 
us.  When  going  to  Hungary  I  received  92,000  crowns  for 
twenty-five  American  dollars.  In  Czecho-Slovakia  the  ex- 
change was  much  higher,  but  I  received  3,400  crowns,  if  I 
remember  rightly,  for  the  same  amount.  In  Germany  the  ex- 
change varied  all  the  way  from  150  to  330  marks  to  the  dollar. 

The  Helder  is  at  the  extreme  tip  of  Holland,  and  here,  some 
twenty  years  ago,  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  started, 
and  here  still  are  found  its  leading  exponents  in  Mr.  Tielrooij 
the  founder  of  the  first  society  and  the  present  president  of  the 
union.  Here  lives  also  Mr.  Storm,  master  of  a  large  boys' 
school,  lovingly  called  the  "  uncle  "  of  Christian  Endeavor  in 
Holland. 


FIVE    MONTHS    IN    CENTRAL    EUROPE  657 

In  Rotterdam,  we  spent  a  delightful  day  with  our  friends 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Smitt,  Mr.  de  Haring  and  Mr.  Makreel,  and 
other  Endeavorers  of  the  city.  The  Smitts  entertained  the  one 
society  in  their  own  pleasant  home,  while  they  planned  for 
larger  things  in  the  city  and  throughout  Holland.  The  quality 
of  the  leaders  whom  I  here  met  gave  me  assurance  of  a  sub- 
stantial future  growth  of  the  movement  in  the  Netherlands. 

I  have  so  often  in  this  narrative  spoken  of  visits  to  Great 
Britain  that  a  paragraph  or  two  must  suffice  to  tell  of  one  of 
the  most  interesting  of  all  my  visits  to  the  motherland  of  most 
Americans.  Some  new  and  eloquent  leaders  of  the  British 
pulpit  have  espoused  the  cause  of  Endeavor.  Among  them 
are  Rev.  Thomas  Phillips  of  London,  Rev.  Lionel  Fletcher  of 
Cardiff,  and  others,  while  the  old  friends  like  Dr.  Meyer,  Dr. 
John  Clifford,  and  scores  of  other  leaders  have  lost  none  of 
their  zeal  for  the  cause.  There  has  been  a  very  decided 
advance  in  the  numbers,  confidence,  and  enthusiasm  of  the 
societies  since  the  war,  which  in  some  places  was  quite  disastrous 
to  the  movement,  but  to-day  its  prospects,  and  the  hopes  of 
its  leaders,  were  never  brighter. 

This  was  attested  over  and  over  again  by  the  great  throngs 
which  we  met  in  Birmingham  and  Bristol,  and  at  the  great 
Good  Friday  meeting  at  the  Metropolitan  Tabernacle  in 
London.  The  Endeavorers  of  England  now  have  a  comfort- 
able and  commodious  home  of  their  own  on  Denmark  Hill, 
presided  over  by  the  general-secretary  and  his  wife.  Rev.  and 
Mrs.  Herbert  Halliwell.  Here  an  Endeavorer  from  the 
home-country  or  abroad,  who  is  visiting  London,  will  receive 
a  hearty  welcome,  good  bed  and  board,  and  find  a  delightful, 
homey,  religious  atmosphere,  all  for  a  very  reasonable  price. 
We  tested  the  joys  of  this  home  off  and  on  for  a  week,  and 
then  went  on  to  Wales  to  attend  the  national  convention  in 
Swansea,  which  also  was  a  cheering  and  hopeful  one.  As  we 
left  Swansea  for  the  last  meeting  of  our  five  months'  stay  in 
Enrope  the  whole  convention  adjourned  and  went  with  us  to 


658  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

the  Station  to  sing  us  off.  They  sang  not  only  the  dear  old 
song,  "  God  be  with  you  till  we  meet  again,"  which  we  had 
heard  at  so  many  railroad  stations  and  steamship  wharves  in 
many  lands  the  world  around,  but  their  own  adaptation  of  an 
old  church  hymn  which  was  the  last  strain  we  heard  as  the  train 
moved  away.    Thus  they  sang: 

"  Guide  them,  O  Thou  great  Jehovah, 
Pilgrims  through  this  barren  land; 
They  are  weak  but  Thou  are  mighty 
Shield  them  with  Thy  powerful  hand. 

Bread  of  heaven, 
Feed  them  till  they  want  no  more. 

When  they  cross  the  stormy  ocean, 
Bid  their  anxious  fears  subside. 
Bear  them  o'er  the  swelling  current. 
Land  them  safe  on  America's  side. 

Strong  Deliverer, 
Be  Thou  still  their  strength  and  shield." 

I  need  only  add  that  the  prayer  of  their  hymn  was  answered. 
In  a  day  or  two  we  sailed  from  the  beautiful  harbour  of  Ply- 
mouth, historically  dear  to  every  American,  and  after  one  of 
the  most  memorable  of  our  tours,  "  landed  safe  on  America's 
side." 


Chapter    LVII 
Years    1881-1922 

SOME  OTHER  NOTED  PERSONS  I  HAVE  MET 

DWIGHT  L.  MOODY IRA  D.  SANKEY THEODORE  CUYLER 

T.       DEWITT       TALMAGE HENRY       WARD       BEECHER 

PHILLIPS      BROOKS MALTBIE      D.      BABCOCK EDWARD 

EVERETT  HALE  VICE-PRESIDENT  FAIRBANKS  PRESI- 
DENT  TAFT FRANCES   E.    WILLARD ANNA   GORDON 

"  JOE  "   CANNON CHAMP   CLARK J.    H.    KELLOGG 

JOHN  WANAMAKER WILLIAM  J.    BRYAN. 

F  MY  readers  have  done  me  the  honor  of 
perusing  the  many  pages  which  precede  this 
chapter  they  have  noted  that  as  chrono- 
logical opportunities  have  served,  I  have 
spoken  of  many  eminent  persons  whom  my 
little  orbit  has  touched,  but  there  are  many 
others  whom  I  have  met  who  are  no  less  worthy  of  comment. 
It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  contemporary  pictures  or 
descriptions  of  leading  men  in  different  eras  contribute  much 
to  the  value  of  any  such  book  as  this,  for  the  impression  men 
make  upon  people  of  their  own  day  is  of  value,  whether  the 
future  confirms  the  contemporary  estimate  or  not. 

I  wish  I  were  very  much  more  of  a  Boswell,  and  sadly 
acknowledge  my  limited  powers  in  this  direction.  I  have 
never  been  a  tuft-hunter,  and  shyness  has  kept  me  from  making 
the  most  of  my  opportunities  on  many  occasions,  but  I  have 
had  some  unusual  opportunities  of  meeting  people  of  my  day 
and  generation  which  ought  not  to  be  altogether  left 
unrecorded. 

659 


660  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

I  believe  that  Dwight  L.  Moody  will  live  long  in  the  religi- 
ous history  of  America,  and  indeed  of  the  world.  His  rare 
common  sense,  his  unswerving  devotion  to  the  Master,  his  deep 
religious  fervor,  and  the  pithy  pointedness  and  evident  sincerity 
of  his  addresses  would  have  made  him  a  marked  man  in  any 
generation.  He  was  accustomed  to  say  "  the  world  does  not 
yet  know  what  God  can  make  of  a  wholly  consecrated  man." 
But  Mr.  Moody  came  as  near  showing  what  the  Almighty 
could  accomplish  with  such  a  man  as  any  one  I  ever  met.  We 
might  add  that  he  also  showed  us  what  God  could  do  with  a 
consecrated  man  who  was  almost  wholly  uneducated,  so  far  as 
book  learning  went,  except  for  the  Book  of  books. 

His  schooling  was  of  the  scantiest.  His  spelling  was  atro- 
cious to  the  very  end  of  his  life,  and  I  have  had  letters  from 
him  in  which  half  a  dozen  of  the  commonest  words  in  the 
language  are  most  curiously  mangled.  Yet  this  man  could 
move  scholars  and  theologians  to  the  depths  of  their  natures. 
He  could  bring  such  men  as  Henry  Drummond  and  others 
of  that  character  to  a  deeper  and  stronger  religious  life. 

He  had  no  quavering  doubts  about  the  truth  of  his  simple 
creed,  an  indispensable  equipment  for  a  successful  evangelist. 
He  declared  at  the  Boston  Endeavor  convention  of  1895  that 
if  the  Bible  declared  that  Jonah  swallowed  the  whale  he  would 
believe  it  just  as  he  accepted  the  present  record.  This,  how- 
ever, may  have  been  an  exaggeration  for  the  sake  of  emphasis. 
He  was  often  imperious  and  brusque,  but  he  was  of  tender 
heart  and  humble  before  his  God.  At  his  request  I  spoke  at 
some  of  his  meetings  in  Northfield,  and  assisted  for  a  few 
days  in  the  revival  meetings  in  New  York  which  were  held 
towards  the  end  of  his  life. 

I  also  knew  Ira  D.  Sankey  slightly,  as  he,  too,  was  drawing 
near  the  end  of  his  notable  career.  He  was  raised  up  by  God, 
like  Moody,  to  drive  home  with  the  pathos  and  the  winning 
word  of  song  the  message  which  the  great  evangelist  brought. 
His  rendering  of  "  The  Ninety  and  Nine,"  and  other  solos 


SOME    OTHER    NOTED    PERSONS    I     HAVE    MET  66l 

which  he  composed  and  sang,  doubtless  led  a  multitude  into 
the  fold  of  the  Good  Shepherd  of  whom  he  sang.  I  happened 
to  be  attending  a  meeting  of  the  Brooklyn  Endeavorers  in  Dr. 
Cuyler's  church  in  Brooklyn,  when  we  heard  that  Mr.  Sankey 
was  living,  or  rather  dying,  in  his  home  near-by.  So  after 
the  meeting  we  all  went  to  his  house,  and,  standing  on  the  side- 
walk and  in  the  yard,  the  Endeavorers  sang  some  of  the  hymns 
which  he  had  made  famous  throughout  the  world.  It  greatly 
touched  the  sick  man,  and  he  sent  for  me  to  come  up  and  re- 
ceive his  thanks  and  benediction  for  the  singers. 

Dr.  Cuyler  was  one  of  the  great  pastors  and  preachers  of  his 
day,  and  through  his  constant  writings  for  religious  publica- 
tions exerted  a  nation-wide  influence.  It  was  said  that  he  had 
written  more  than  three  thousand  helpful  articles  on  religious 
themes,  each  of  them  bright,  simple,  and  telling.  I  used  to 
meet  him  at  Lake  Mohonk  with  the  other  worthies  gathered 
there.  He  was  so  exceedingly  deaf  in  his  later  years  that  it  was 
almost  impossible  to  talk  with  him.  This,  however,  gave  him 
no  embarassment,  and  his  own  voice,  as  is  frequently  the  case 
with  deaf  people,  seemed  to  drown  out  all  other  conversation 
in  his  vicinity.  He  was  one  of  the  cheeriest,  happiest  Christians 
I  ever  knew. 

Though  I  did  not  know  Dr.  T.  DeWitt  Talmage  personally, 
I  heard  him  preach  on  two  or  three  occasions.  He  was  deemed 
by  many  a  sensationalist,  but  he  was  certainly  not  of  the  offen- 
sive kind.  His  gospel  message  always  rang  true,  and  he  doubt- 
less reached  and  helped  a  multitude  in  his  vast  Sunday  congre- 
gation, who  would  not  have  been  touched  by  a  more  quiet  and 
restrained  delivery. 

The  only  time  that  I  remember  meeting  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  was  after  a  prayer  meeting  in  his  Brooklyn  church. 
The  large  vestry  was  full,  and  Mr.  Beecher's  talk  was  spon- 
taneous and  sparkling,  and  yet  homely  in  its  allusions  to  his 
early  days  and  his  father's  home.  After  the  meeting,  when 
a  large  number  of  people  had  been  propounded  for  admission 


662  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

to  the  church,  I  said  to  him,  "  It  must  be  a  great  pleasure, 
Mr.  Beecher,  to  receive  such  large  accessions  to  your  church 
month  after  month."  "  I  ought  to  gather  in  a  lot  of  fish," 
was  his  reply,  "  for  I  have  a  great  big  pond  here  in  Brooklyn 
to  fish  in." 

I  did  not  tell  him  about  it,  but  I  had  something  to  do 
with  quashing  a  trial  which  some  members  of  the  church  in 
Andover  Seminary  desired  to  subject  him  to,  by  reason  of  the 
scandal  which  clouded  but  did  not  embitter  his  later  years. 
The  civil  trial  had  already  taken  place,  and  had  resulted  in 
the  Scotch  verdict  of  "  not  proven."  Prof.  Egbert  Smyth  and 
a  few  others  in  the  Andover  church  were  not  satisfied  with 
this,  however,  and  desired  to  call  an  ex-farte  council  for  the 
purpose  of  an  ecclesiastical  trial.  As  a  member  of  the  Semi- 
nary Church,  I  was  put  upon  the  committee  to  represent  the 
student  body.  The  other  four  members  of  the  committee  were 
professors.  Professor  Smyth  was  very  ardent  for  the  trial, 
as  was  also  Prof.  Meade.  Prof.  Churchill,  and  Dr.  Bancroft, 
the  principal  of  Phillips  Academy,  were  more  lukewarm,  while 
Professors  Park  and  Phelps  opposed  calling  the  council. 

The  affair  dragged  along  until  after  I  was  settled  in  Port- 
land. Two  of  the  committee  had  come  to  feel  that  it  was 
useless  and  unbrotherly  to  rake  up  the  old  coals  of  contro- 
versy and  start  a  new  fire.  Having  left  Andover,  my  own 
attitude  was  not  entirely  known  to  the  others,  and  I  was 
earnestly  besought  by  both  parties  to  join  their  ranks.  But  I 
could  not  feel  that  it  was  right  to  prolong  the  scandal,  and  so 
voted  with  the  two  members  of  the  committee  who  were 
against  calling  the  council. 

When  the  committee  reported  to  the  whole  church,  a  major- 
ity of  them  being  against  further  action,  the  whole  matter 
died  a  natural  death  and  was  decently  buried,  greatly  to  Prof. 
Smyth's  disappointment.  Warm  personal  letters  from  Pro- 
fessors Park  and  Phelps,  commending  my  action,  compen- 
sated me  for  any  loss  of  favor  in  other  directions. 


SOME    OTHER    NOTED    PERSONS    I     HAVE    MET  663 

Mr.  Beecher  was  undoubtedly  America's  greatest  preacher. 
His  naturalness  and  spontaneity,  gave  the  impression  of  a 
great  fountain  of  eloquence  and  wisdom,  ever  bubbling  to  the 
surface,  and  irrigating  the  parched  fields  of  theology,  causing 
flowers  and  fruits  to  grow  up  on  every  side. 

The  only  American  preacher  likely  to  be  compared  with 
Mr.  Beecher  for  power  and  eloquence  was  Phillips  Brooks. 
I  knew  him  slightly,  and  occasionally  heard  him  preach,  but 
the  interview  that  I  chiefly  remember  was  in  his  study,  near 
the  end  of  his  life.  Never  have  I  seen  one  who  gave  me  such 
an  impression  of  massiveness  and  yet  gentleness.  His  great 
form  towered  a  whole  head  above  men  who  would  ordinarily 
be  called  tall.  His  deep,  cavernous  eyes  seemed  to  have  the 
look  of  eternity  in  them.  He  could  not  grant  my  request 
that  he  would  speak  at  a  ministers'  meeting  for  which  I  was 
responsible,  but  his  refusal  was  as  gracious  as  the  acceptance 
of  another  would  have  been. 

One  of  the  most  brilliant  and  devoted  of  America's  great 
preachers  died  in  his  early  prime,  Maltbie  D.  Babcock,  who 
left  a  deep  impression  on  the  country  by  his  pastorates  in 
Baltimore  and  New  York.  No  one  came  within  the  circle  of 
his  influence  who  was  not  fascinated  by  his  wit  and  charmed 
by  his  kindness  of  heart.  His  little  poem  on  "  School 
Days  "  is  a  gem  which  is  set  in  the  memory  of  many.  He, 
too,  was  a  trustee  of  the  United  Society,  and  went  across  the 
water  in  1900  to  speak  at  the  World's  Convention  in  London. 
Soon  after  that  we  were  shocked  and  grieved  to  hear  of 
his  death  by  his  own  hands,  in  a  fit  of  delirium  resulting  from 
typhoid  fever. 

Edward  Everett  Hale  was  another  friend  of  whom  no  one 
could  see  too  much.  He  was  surely  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able men  whom  New  England  has  produced,  more  versatile 
in  his  gifts  than  any  man  I  ever  knew.  Though  called  a 
Unitarian  he  was  not  far  from  the  evangelical  line,  and  I 
have  heard  him  close  his  prayer  .with  the  words,  "  In  the  name 


664  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  Someone  has  called  him  "  a  moth- 
eaten  angel."  His  shaggy  hair  and  unkempt  beard  and 
rather  slouchy  dress  gave  point  to  the  appellation.  If  any 
one  desires  to  see  what  may  be  truly  called  a  speaking  like- 
ness of  this  great  Bostonian,  let  him  look  at  his  bronze  statue 
just  beside  the  Charles  Street  gate  of  the  Public  Garden. 

His  reading  was  omnivorous,  and  his  knowledge  encyclo- 
pedic. On  one  occasion  I  was  telling  him  about  our  journey 
across  Siberia,  when  he  told  me  that  he  had  a  very  rare  book 
which  I  had  never  heard  of,  about  Marco  Polo's  travels  in 
Siberia.  Later  he  sent  it  to  me,  and  I  found  it  of  great 
interest.  I  have  recently  read  in  a  Boston  paper  that  I 
obtained  the  idea  of  Christian  Endeavor  from  both  Dr.  Hale 
and  Dr.  Cuyler.  I  am  not  aware  of  it,  but  am  glad  to 
acknowledge  my  indebtedness  to  them  both,  and  to  many 
other  Christian  men  of  my  acquaintance  for  inspiration  and 
help.  Horace  BushnelPs  book  on  "  Christian  Nurture  "  was 
more  responsible  for  the  idea  than  any  other  man  or  book. 

My  pen  is  anxious  to  record  the  names  of  a  hundred  other 
American  preachers  whom  I  have  known  and  loved  for  their 
works'  sake  and  for  their  personal  congeniality,  but  there  must 
be  a  limit  to  this  chapter,  and  I  forbear,  especially  since  most 
of  them  are  still  living. 

Among  the  public  men  of  whom  I  have  not  spoken  at  length 
in  previous  chapters  I  esteemed  vice-president  Charles  Fair- 
banks most  highly.  He  was  the  leading  national  figure  at 
the  International  Christian  Endeavor  convention  in  Seattle, 
and  next  to  President  Taft,  at  Atlantic  City.  It  is  strange 
how  public  men  are  maligned  and  their  best  characteristics 
ignored  or  twisted  into  faults.  For  years  Mr.  Fairbanks  was 
always  represented  by  his  political  opponents  as  cold  and  dis- 
tant, a  stalactite  in  a  cave,  or  a  huge  icicle  endowed  with  a 
chilly  life  of  its  own.  And  yet,  of  all  public  men  I  have 
known,  Mr.  Fairbanks  was  one  of  the  most  kindly,  generous, 
and  genial.     He  was  a  strict  temperance  man,  and  the  only 


SOME    OTHER    NOTED    PERSONS    I     HAVE    MET  66$ 

prohibitionist,  it  is  said,  at  that  time  in  any  high  administra- 
tion office,  and  yet  he  was  libelled  as  "  a  wine-bibber,"  be- 
cause on  the  occasion  of  the  annual  dinner  which  he  gave  to 
President  Roosevelt,  the  caterer,  to  whom  he  had  entrusted 
the  banquet,  without  his  knowledge  in  advance,  served  cock- 
tails at  the  beginning  of  the  feast.  The  opposition  papers 
rang  with  denunciations  of  him  as  a  hypocrite.  His  own  de- 
nomination refused  to  send  him  as  a  delegate  to  its  General 
Conference,  and  the  country  rang  with  a  parody  of  a  popular 
song,  "  Cocktail  Charley  was  his  name."  To  the  above- 
mentioned  banquet  and  reception  he  had  invited  Mrs.  Clark 
and  myself,  but  a  sudden  attack  of  influenza  prevented  me 
from  accepting. 

The  last  time  I  met  him  was  in  India  in  1909.  He  had 
hoped  to  attend  the  Endeavor  Convention  in  Agra,  but  could 
not  make  the  connections,  and  at  the  last  minute  sent  his  ad- 
dress, a  thomayid-word  message  by  telegraph.  I  have  many 
letters  of  good  cheer  from  him,  which  I  highly  prize. 

A  close  rival  in  whole-hearted  cordialitv  to  Mr.  Fairbanks 
is  Chief  Justice  William  Howard  Taft.  His  jovial  face 
expresses  his  kindly  heart,  and  he  is  most  punctilious  in  all  the 
little  courtesies  of  life.  His  address  at  the  Atlantic  City  con- 
vention was  the  boldest  utterance  a  president  had  ever  made  up 
to  that  time  in  favor  of  world  peace,  international  arbitration, 
and  conciliation.  He  advocated  the  submission  of  all  ques- 
tions, whether  they  affected  the  "  national  honor  "  or  not,  to  a 
court  of  arbitration.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  introducing  him  to 
the  great  audience,  not  as  "  William  the  Conqueror,"  though 
his  kindness  had  conquered  many  hearts,  but  as  "  William  the 
Peacemaker."  I  do  not  think  he  has  received  the  credit  that 
should  be  his  as  our  first  Pacificist  president,  using  the  word 
in  the  best  and  largest  sense  of  the  term.  His  advocacy  of 
the  League  to  Enforce  Peace,  the  League  of  Nations,  and 
other  measures  of  that  sort  in  the  years  of  controversy  that 
preceded  the  Washington  Conference  on  the  Limitation  of 


666  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN     IN    MANY    LANDS 

Armaments,  helped  to  clear  the  atmosphere  of  militarism  and 
prepare  the  way  for  the  better  days  that  I  believe  are  coming. 

I  must  not  forget  to  say  a  word  about  Miss  Frances  E. 
Willard.  She  deserves  her  high  place  as  the  noblest  leader 
of  America's  womanhood.  As  a  speaker  she  had  a  compelling 
power  over  her  audiences  by  her  gentle,  womanly,  but  always 
persuasive  speech.  She  was  broad-minded  and  catholic  in  her 
views,  and  though  at  the  head  of  the  greatest  of  temperance 
organizations,  did  not  allow  it  to  consume  all  her  energies. 
Woman's  suffrage,  higher  education  of  women,  evangelical  re- 
ligion in  all  its  aspects,  owe  much  to  her,  and  her  great  heart 
took  in  all  efforts  for  the  uplift  of  mankind.  Though  a  Metho- 
dist she  liked  the  Christian  Endeavor  society  for  its  inter- 
denominational and  international  features,  for  its  honoring 
both  sexes  equally,  and  for  promoting  an  outspoken  type  of 
religion,  and  she  was  never  unwilling  to  express  her  views  in 
public  or  private.  Her  co-worker  and  worthy  successor  in 
the  presidential  chair  of  the  W.C.T.U.,  Miss  Anna  Gordon, 
I  also  have  known  since  she  was  a  girl  in  Auburndale.  She  is 
a  sister  of  that  eminent  missionary  and  educationalist,  Mrs. 
Alice  Gordon  Gulick,  of  whom  I  have  already  written. 

I  happened  to  be  in  Washington  just  before  the  national 
conventions  for  nominating  candidates  for  the  election  of  191 2, 
and  was  introduced  to  Champ  Clark,  the  Democratic  leader  of 
the  House,  and  to  Joe  Cannon,  the  speaker.  They  both  had 
in  their  bonnets  presidential  bees  that  were  buzzing  loudly, 
and  both  were  very  gracious  to  me  as  one  who  might  possibly 
have  some  influence  with  a  constituency  which  was  worth 
cultivating.    I  hope  I  am  not  doing  them  an  injustice. 

After  chatting  with  Mr.  Cannon  for  a  little  while,  and  after 
I  had  moved  away,  not  wishing  to  take  more  of  his  time,  he 
called  me  back  and  said,  "  Mr.  Clark,  the  papers  say  that  I 
am  a  tough  old  reprobate,  but  don't  you  believe  it.  I  wouldn't 
say  d —  to  a  mosquito  if  he  bit  me,  and  I  never  drank  a  glass 
of  liquor  in  my  life."    The  old  Watch  Dog  of  the  Treasury 


SOME    OTHER    NOTED    PERSONS    I    HAVE    MET  667 

was  often  accused  of  lurid  language,  but  I  will  let  his  own 
testimony  stand  as  he  gave  it  to  me. 

Champ  Clark  spoke  at  one  of  our  big  conventions  in  that 
presidential  year,  but  turned  his  speech  into  a  political 
harangue,  which  I  do  not  think  did  justice  to  his  undoubted 
ability  and  force  of  character. 

A  friend  whom  I  have  learned  to  esteem  most  highly  is 
Dr.  J.  H.  Kellogg  of  Battle  Creek,  a  truly  remarkable  char- 
acter. The  Battle  Creek  Sanitarium,  the  greatest  institution 
of  its  kind  in  the  world,  is  his  own  child.  P'ar  from  being 
"  a  nest  of  faddists  "  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  it  is  conducted 
on  the  most  rigid  scientific  principles.  Fifty  specialists,  each 
one  an  authority  in  his  own  domain,  will,  if  desired,  examine 
one  for  every  ill  to  which  flesh  is  heir.  Dr.  Kellogg's  lectures 
on  the  preservation  of  health  are  as  interesting  as  they  are 
instructive,  and  the  bigness  of  his  heart  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  he  has  adopted  scores  of  orphans  into  his  own  family, 
giving  to  several  of  them  his  own  name,  and  has  started  them 
on  careers  of  usefulness.  At  one  time  thirty-nine  orphan 
children  sat  around  his  private  board  in  his  great  dining-room. 
It  is  true  that  no  meat  is  allowed  on  the  menu  of  the  Sani- 
tarium, but  the  food  is  so  abundant,  delicious,  and  well  served 
that  few  miss  their  accustomed  steaks  and  chops. 

The  doctor  is  not  only  a  notable  organizer,  dietitian,  and 
inventor  of  wholesome  foods,  but  is  one  of  the  greatest 
surgeons  in  the  country,  and  has  successfully  performed  thou- 
sands of  operations.  His  immaculate  suit  of  white  in  summer 
and  winter  alike  is  a  symbol  and  memory  of  purity  and  of 
good  cheer  to  a  multitude  who  have  welcomed  him  to  their 
sick  beds. 

America's  foremost  merchant  prince,  John  Wanamaker,  I 
am  proud  to  number  among  my  list  of  friends,  and  the  affec- 
tionate letters  I  have  received  from  him  indicate  that  he  has 
at  least  a  little  place  in  his  heart  for  me.  His  career  has  been 
a  marvellous  one,  but  is  too  well-known  to  be  recounted  here. 


668  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

In  the  midst  of  all  his  successes,  he  has  retained  a  kindly  demo- 
cratic spirit,  and  a  genial  humor. 

I  remember  a  Sunday  I  spent  with  him  many  years  ago, 
preaching  in  Bethany  Church,  which  he  has  so  long  supported, 
and  addressing  his  Sunday  school  of  three  thousand  members. 
I  had  six  services  of  one  kind  and  another  on  that  day,  but 
my  task  was  small  compared  with  Mr.  Wanamaker's.  He 
attended  eleven  separate  meetings,  and  as  we  were  going  back 
to  the  hotel  where  he  was  then  living,  for  a  late  dinner,  he 
said,  "  I  missed  one  of  my  girls  from  Sunday  school.  She 
has  been  absent  for  several  Sundays.  I  must  look  her  up." 
So  we  toiled  up  three  flights  of  stairs  in  a  back  street  and 
found  a  poor  family  in  the  attic.  When  the  door  was  opened 
the  little  girl  rushed  to  him  and  threw  her  arms  around  his 
neck  as  though  he  were  her  own  father. 

He  scolded  her  for  not  letting  him  know  before  that  she 
had  been  ill.  "  Oh,"  said  she,  "  I  couldn't  think  of  bothering 
you,  Mr.  Wanamaker."  After  more  kindly  chiding  on  that 
score,  and  pleasant  conversation,  we  all  knelt  and  Mr.  Wana- 
maker prayed  most  earnestly  for  this  one  little  lamb  of  his  big 
flock,  and  for  her  mother,  who  was  almost  as  much  affected 
as  the  daughter.  As  we  came  out  he  said,  "  It  is  easy  for  a 
man  with  money  to  write  a  check,  but  what  these  people  need 
is  sympathy  and  the  human  touch."  Mrs.  W^anamaker,  a 
gentle,  gracious  lady,  was  also  a  good  friend  of  mine,  whose 
cheering  letters  I  greatly  prized.  In  her  last  letter  before  her 
lamented  death  she  enclosed  a  check  for  a  thousand  dollars, 
half  of  it  for  the  work  I  was  doing,  and  the  other  half  that  I 
might  have  more  travelling  comforts  on  the  journey  I  was 
about  to  undertake. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  my  admiration  for  Mr.  William 
J.  Bryan,  but,  in  closing  this  wholly  inadequate  chapter  about 
some  of  my  most  distinguished  friends,  I  must .  add  that  I 
esteem  him  one  of  the  greatest  statesmen  of  his  time,  as  well 
as  one  of  the  noblest  of  Christian  men.     I  know  that  many 


SOME    OTHER    NOTED    PERSONS    I     HAVE    MET  669 

will  scoff  at  the  first  statement,  will  throw  "  sixteen  to  one  " 
in  my  face,  and  perhaps  rake  up  the  criticisms  of  rancorous 
opponents,  but  there  is  much  truth  in  what  Mr.  Bryan  himself 
once  said  jocosely,  that  the  Republicans  have  stolen  most  of 
his  old  political  clothes.  When  we  remember  that  he  was 
almost  the  first  prominent  statesman  to  advocate  prohibition, 
woman  suffrage,  an  income  tax,  and  other  reforms,  and  that 
he  concluded  a  treaty  with  thirty  nations  during  his  brief  term 
as  Secretary  of  State,  treaties  which  would  have  prevented  the 
world  war  had  two  or  three  militarist  nations  accepted  his 
proposals,  we  can  understand  the  point  of  his  remark.  What- 
ever critics  may  say  about  his  views  on  evolution  he  shines 
even  more  luminously  as  a  great  preacher  and  a  great  Christian 
than  as  a  statesman,  and  his  influence  as  an  advocate  of  right- 
eousness, temperance,  and  good  will  in  his  day  and  generation 
has  not  been  equalled  I  believe  by  that  of  any  man  of  his  time. 


Chapter  LVIII 
Years    1870-1922 

WITH  PEN  AND  TYPEWRITER 

FIRST  ARTICLES  AND   BOOKS  ABOUT  YOUNG   PEOPLE's  WORK 

TRAVEL-BOOKS  CONCERNING   IMMIGRANTS FIVE  THOU- 
SAND  NEWSPAPER  ARTICLES MORE   AMBITIOUS    FLIGHTS 

MY  PEN  AS  A  TENT  NEEDLE. 

E  READ  of  people  who  are  born  with  silver 
spoons  in  their  mouths.  It  is  equally  apposite 
to  speak  of  other  people  who  were  born  with 
a  pen  between  their  lingers.  Without  in- 
tending to  boast  at  all  of  literary  achieve- 
ments, I  think  I  may  claim  to  belong  to  the 
latter  class,  certainly  not  to  the  former.  I  cannot  remember 
a  time  when  I  did  not  like  to  write  if  I  had  anything  to  write 
about.  Not  that  I  belonged  to  the  precocious  type  of 
children  that  has  received  so  much  attention  of  late  years,  like 
Opal  Whitely  and  Hilda  Conkling,  but  it  never  seemed  a 
task  to  me  to  write  a  letter,  or  a  composition  in  school.  When 
I  had  any  special  request  to  make  of  my  parents,  the  granting 
of  which  was  doubtful,  seeming  to  need  extended  argument, 
I  preferred  to  commit  my  plea  to  paper  and  ink. 

I  early  aspired  to  the  doubtful  immortality  of  print,  and 
have  told  in  an  early  chapter  about  my  first  lucubration  in  a 
New  Hampshire  weekly  and  of  other  efforts  which  in  my 
college  and  seminary  days  helped  to  pay  my  expenses. 

Such  an  ambition  is  likely  to  grow  by  what  it  feeds  on, 
and  one  little  success  often  leads  to  another,  while  the  usual 
disappointments  of  attempted  authorship,  although  they  dis- 

670 


WITH    PEN    AND    TYPEWRITER  67 1 

courage  many  from  going  far,  do  not  put  a  permanent  period 
to  the  pen  of  one  who  enjoys  writing.  I  think  I  must  'have 
inherited  this  love  from  my  mother,  who,  though  she  never 
published  anything  of  note,  showed  by  her  carefully  kept  and 
beautifully  written  journal,  a  fine  literary  taste  as  well  as  an 
exalted  but  chastened  spirit.  Considering  the  work  which  has 
fallen  to  my  lot  to  do,  it  was  an  exceedingly  fortunate  inheri- 
tance, for  I  have  been  able  to  do  far  more  for  the  cause  of 
Christian  Endeavor  by  my  pen  than  by  my  spoken  words,  even 
though  these  have  been  in  the  forty  languages  in  which  kind 
interpreters  have  enabled  me  to  make  myself  understood. 

The  first  articles  about  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement 
I  wrote  for  The  Congregat'ionalist  and  The  Sunday  School 
TimeSj  within  six  months  of  the  formation  of  the  first  society, 
when  it  was,  as  I  called  it,  only  a  "  hopeful  experiment,"  and 
before  it  had  been  tried  out  in  any  other  church  than  Williston. 
The  first  book,  entitled,  "  The  Children  and  the  Church  "  was 
published  the  following  year,  1882,  and  was  the  third  book  I 
had  written  up  to  that  date.  It  was  reviewed  at  length  in  many 
papers,  and  was  afterwards  republished  in  Great  Britain,  and 
the  articles  to  which  I  have  alluded  were  also  copied  in  many 
papers. 

If  there  ever  was  a  psychological  moment  for  the  cause 
I  had  at  heart,  it  was  the  moment  when  these  articles  and  this 
book  appeared  in  print.  Rather  let  me  say,  it  was  God's 
moment,  for  throughout  my  whole  life  I  have  been  impressed 
a  hundred  times  over  with  the  Divine  leading  in  these  matters. 
The  right  time,  the  right  occasion,  the  right  man,  without 
any  knowledge  or  planning  on  my  part,  seem  to  have  been 
found  j  — the  time,  the  occasion,  the  man,  that  of  all  others 
could  promote  this  organized  effort  of  Christian  nurture. 

Other  bound  volumes  about  religious  work  for  young 
people  with  my  name  on  the  title  page  appeared  in  the  earlier 
days  of  the  movement,  such  as  "  Young  People's  Prayer 
Meetings,"    "Ways   and   Means,"   which   told   of   different 


672  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

methods  of  committee  work,  and  a  "  Manual  of  Christian  En- 
deavor," which  went  at  length  into  the  whole  matter  of  its  prin- 
ciple and  its  endeavors. 

Of  late  years  I  have  felt  that  my  gifted  colleagues,  Amos  R. 
Wells  and  Robert  P.  Anderson,  could  write  these  technical 
books  of  methods  and  of  inspiration  for  young  people's  work 
better  than  I  could,  and,  having  always  much  more  work  to 
engage  my  pen  than  I  could  find  time  for,  I  have  left  those 
subjects  largely  to  them,  and  to  other  practical  workers  whose 
experience  has  fitted  them  for  the  task.  Dr.  Wells  has  been 
most  prolific  in  his  output  of  helpful  Christian  Endeavor 
literature.  His  volume  on  "  Expert  Endeavor  "  has  been  used 
as  a  text-book  by  tens  of  thousands.  It  was  the  result  of  his 
own  thought  that  more  well-equipped  leaders,  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  the  fundamentals  of  the  movement,  should  be 
developed.  Mr.  Anderson  has  also  written  many  valuable 
Christian  Endeavor  books  and  booklets,  and  is  constantly  pre- 
paring others. 

I  have  written  besides  the  above,  thirty  or  more  bound 
volumes,  a  score  or  more  of  tracts  or  booklets  on  different 
phases  of  the  work,  some  of  which,  like  a  little  booklet  called 
"  Christian  Endeavor  in  Principle  and  Practice,"  have  been 
translated  into  many  languages. 

Two  large  volumes  concerning  the  history  of  the  movement, 
very  fully  illustrated,  and  which  I  hope  may  be  of  future  value 
as  telling  more  particularly  about  the  work  and  workers  of 
the  first  twenty-five  years  of  the  society,  also  bear  my  name. 

Several  somewhat  elaborate  volumes,  not  bearing  upon  the 
society,  I  have  also  found  time  to  write,  like  "  Our  Journey 
Around  the  World,"  "  A  New  Way  Around  an  Old  World," 
published  in  England  under  the  title,  "  The  Great  Trans- 
Siberian  Railway  "j  a  volume  on  South  America,  "  The  Conti- 
nent of  Opportunity,"  and  a  book  entitled,  "  In  the  Footsteps 
of  St.  Paul,"  describing  our  visit  to  thirty-one  of  the  thirty- 
three  cities  with  which  the  Apostle's  name  is  connected.   "  The 


WITH    PEN    AND    TYPEWRITER  673 

Holy  Land  of  Asia  Minor  "  describes  the  present  appearance 
of  the  Seven  Cities  of  Asia.  A  couple  of  books  deal  with  the 
immigration  questions  and  are  entitled,  "  Old  Homes  of  New 
Americans,"  and  "  Our  Italian  Fellow  Citizens."  Three  or 
four  devotional  books  I  have  also  written  of  which  "  The 
Great  Secret  "  has  been  the  most  useful.  A  book  on  the  joys 
of  out-of-door  life,  especially  the  joys  of  the  old  farm  at  Saga- 
more, entitled,  "  The  Gospel  of  Out-of -Doors,"  in  a  way,  was 
a  return  to  the  theme  of  my  first  book,  "  Our  Vacations,"  writ- 
ten nearly  a  half  century  before. 

I  have  been  more  favored  than  most  busy  men  in  having 
opportunities  for  such  literary  work,  because  much  of  it  has 
been  done  in  what  would  otherwise  have  been  largely  wasted 
time,  on  steamers  or  railway  trains.  The  work  has  beguiled 
the  tedium  of  many  long  journeys. 

By  far  the  greater  part  of  my  literary  work,  if  I  may 
dignify  it  by  that  name,  has  consisted  of  fugitive  articles, 
never  collected,  but  contributed  to  The  Golden  Rule  and  its 
successor,  The  Christian  Endeavor  World,  and  to  many  other 
religious  publications. 

For  more  than  thirty-five  years  I  have  contributed  one  or 
more  articles  and  editorials  to  the  Christian  Endeavor  weekly 
before  mentioned,  at  least  an  average  of  two  a  week.  In  the 
early  days  of  the  paper,  when  I  was  more  responsible  for  its 
contents  than  now,  I  used  to  contribute  five  or  six  articles, 
longer  or  shorter,  to  each  issue.  When  I  count  up  the  ap- 
palling total  of  two  articles  a  week  for  thirty-five  years,  and 
fifty-two  weeks  in  the  year,  I  find  that  the  number  of  con- 
tributions amounts  to  more  than  3,600.  At  least  a  third  as 
many  more  must  have  appeared  in  other  publications  of  which 
I  can  recall  at  least  a  score,  like  The  Christian  Heraldy  The 
Youth^s  Companion,  and  most  of  the  leading  denominational 
papers  of  American  Protestantism. 

Occasionally  I  have  essayed  a  more  ambitious  flight,  and 
have  found  my  articles  in  such  magazines  as   The  Century ^ 


674  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

The  North  American  Review,  Hibbert^s  Journal,  Everybody's 
Magazine,  The  Atlantic  Monthly,  and  The  Yale  Review. 

Many  of  these  articles  have  been  toilsomely  written  with 
one  of  my  many  fountains  pens  that  have  been  worn  out  in 
the  service.     Quite  as  many  perhaps  have  been  dictated  to  my 
secretary,  or  to  my  good  wife,  who  on  our  many  journeys 
together  has  carried  her  useful  little  Blickensderfer,  otherwise 
known  to  her  as  "  Kezia,"  in  her  trunk.     I  have  never  learned 
to  use  a  typewriter  myself,  but  why  should  I  when  I  have 
such  efficient  and  willing  helpers  in  my  office  and  my  home? 
Moral:     Young  man,  marry  your  stenographer,  or  get  her 
to  learn  the  art  of  typewriting  after  you  are  married,  as  I  did. 
I  have  never  aspired  to  write  a  poem  in  my  life,  considering 
such  literature  quite  beyond  my  powers,  but  I  have  especially 
enjoyed  the  writing  of  essays  and  descriptive   articles,   and 
other  articles,  which,  though  meant  for  print,  were  more  of 
the  nature  of  letters  to  my  friends,  among  whom  I  have  dared 
to  count  (perhaps  too  audaciously)  the  tens  of  thousands  of 
subscribers  to  the  paper  ,with  which  my  name  has  been  so  long 
associated. 

In  the  earlier  days  I  attempted  a  good  many  articles  in  a 
humorous  or  satirical  vein,  some  of  which  were  afterwards 
published  in  book  form  under  the  title,  "  The  Mossback  Corre- 
spondence," and,  "  Some  Christian  Endeavor  Saints."  In  the 
days  of  a  somewhat  bitter  theological  controversy,  forty  years 
ago,  some  articles  signed  "  Rusticus  "  were  received  with  much 
applause  by  conservative  theologians,  though  the  author  of 
them,  so  far  as  I  know,  was  known  only  to  the  editors  of  the 
denominational  paper  in  which  they  were  published. 

I  have  not  taken  myself  as  an  author  too  seriously,  and  I 
do  not  claim  any  superior  literary  ability,  but  I  am  thankful 
to  God  that  writing  has  been  no  ungrateful  task.  I  think  I 
can  fairly  say  that  though  I  may  have  written  too  much  and  too 
hastily,  I  have  tried  to  express  my  views  clearly  and  honestly, 
and  have  written  little,  ho.wever  poor  its  literary  merits,  that 


WITH    PEN    AND    TYPEWRITER  675 

I  would  wish  unwritten.  Moreover,  my  pen  has  been  to  me 
what  St.  Paul's  tent-needle  was  to  him,  and  has  largely  paid 
my  way  in  all  my  journeys,  and  has  enabled  me  to  give  my 
life  to  the  cause  of  Christian  Endeavor,  without  salary  or 
traveling  expenses  in  foreign  lands  from  the  United  Society  or 
the  World's  Christian  Endeavor  Union.  I  would  not  say  too 
much  about  this  matter,  but  I  am  so  often  asked  about  it  that 
a  word  of  explanation  is  not  out  of  place.  My  peculiar  rela- 
tion to  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  accounts  for  what 
may  be  considered  an  undue  scrupulosity  in  this  matter,  as 
my  friends  have  often  called  it. 

I  have  wished  to  make  sure  in  my  own  soul  that  no  merce- 
nary motive  should  ever  influence  me  in  doing  my  utmost 
for  the  cause  which  God  seemed  to  have  given  to  me  to  pro- 
mote. Of  course  a  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire,  and  every- 
one who  gives  all  his  time  to  the  promotion  of  such  a  cause 
as  Christian  Endeavor  has  a  right  to  a  good,  living  salary. 
But  no  one  else  can  have  the  same  relation  to  the  movement 
as  myself,  nor  has  any  one  the  same  reason  for  refusing  a 
salary  or  travelling  expenses  in  missionary  lands. 

I  remember  that  in  the  early  days  of  the  society  it  was 

reported  to  me  on  good  authority  that  Dr. an  eminent 

Boston  minister,  who  looked  askance  at  Christian  Endeavor, 
said  to  an  admirer  of  the  society,  "  Oh,  it  may  be  well  enough, 
and  Clark  must  be  making  a  good  thing  out  of  it."  I  re- 
solved then  that  no  one  should  ever  be  able  truthfully  to  say 
that. 

When,  thirty-five  years  ago,  I  left  the  pastorate  of  Phillips 
Church  in  Boston,  I  was  receiving  a  salary  of  $3,500  a  year, 
a  sum  worth  then  nearly  double  what  it  would  be  now.  After 
that,  as  editor  of  The  Christian  Endeavor  World,  I  had  a 
good  salary  for  a  number  of  years,  but  on  the  whole,  have 
averaged  during  these  five  and  thirty  years,  from  this  salary 
and  other  literary  earnings,  less  than  I  received  as  a  pastor. 

Yet  I  have  not  suffered  or  "  endured  hardness  "  in  thus 


676  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

refusing  much  that  I  might  have  had,  and  have  felt  more 
free  to  go  and  come  by  not  being  dependent  on  the  society  for 
salary  and  for  foreign  travelling  expenses.  The  Lord  has 
provided  enough  and  a  little  more  than  enough.  In  one 
respect  I  may  have  made  a  mistake  in  taking  this  course.  If 
I  were  to  live  my  life  over  I  think  I  would  take  a  comfortable 
salary  and  foreign  travelling  expenses,  and  then  turn  it  all 
back  into  the  Christian  Endeavor  treasury  to  be  used  for  the 
world-wide  work  of  the  society.  When  one  pursues  the  course 
I  have  taken,  it  soon  becomes  a  matter  of  course  that  the  presi- 
dent should  have  no  salary.  This  would  be  unfair  to  those 
who  will  come  after  me. 

Another  reason  for  refusing  a  salary  from  the  United  Society 
is  that  I  have  desired  to  set  an  example  of  economy,  which  I 
think  should  be  the  aim  of  every  oragnization  that  lives  on  the 
gifts  of  other  people.  Moreover  the  United  Society  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  has  never  had  any  superfluous  cash  to  expend 
on  high  salaries  or  on  other  matters.  I  am  reminded  of  the 
minister  who  prayed  that  the  Lord  would  make  him  humble 
and  poor  in  spirit,  and  was  told  by  his  deacon  that  if  the 
Lord  would  keep  him  humble  the  church  would  keep  him 
poor.  The  Lord  has  certainly  kept  Christian  Endeavor  poor 
if  not  humble. 

The  chief  reason  for  this  poverty  is  that  neither  the  United 
Society  nor  the  World's  Union  has  appealed  for  money  to 
the  local  societies,  their  natural  source  of  financial  help,  but  rely 
upon  individual  givers  who  are  friends  of  the  movement. 
The  United  Society  has  said  to  the  local  societies,  "  Give 
through  your  own  church  and  denominational  missionary 
organizations."  This  principle  has  kept  the  United  Society 
very  short  of  funds,  but  it  is  far  better  that  it  should  be  so  than 
not  to  emphasize,  as  it  has,  the  loyalty  of  Christian  Endeavor 
to  its  own  church  by  this  "  self-denying  ordinance." 

One  can  easily  reckon  what  a  drain,  in  the  course  of  thirty- 
five  years,  a  salary  of  $3,500  a  year,  and  perhaps  $35,000 


WITH    PEN    AND    TYPEWRITER  677 

more  all  told  during  the  thirty-five  years,  for  travelling  ex- 
penses in  foreign  lands,  would  have  been  upon  the  treasuries 
of  the  United  Society  and  the  World's  Union.  They  simply 
could  not  have  borne  it. 

Do  not  let  me  be  understood  as  complaining  in  any  way 
of  financial  distress.  To  keep  "  a  shot  in  the  locker  "  has  kept 
my  pen  busy,  to  be  sure,  but  it  has  not  compelled  me  to  face 
old  age  with  anxiety.  Agur's  prayer,  "  Give  me  neither 
poverty  nor  riches,"  has  been  answered  in  my  case.  For  fifty 
years  I  have  been  able  to  pay  my  bills  regularly,  to  give  my 
tenth,  and  lay  aside  a  little  every  year  for  a  rainy  day.  It  is 
surprising  how  such  a  course  maintained  steadily  for  half  a 
century,  will  accumulate  a  modest  competence,  however  small 
the  yearly  savings.  The  money  saved  soon  begins  to  work  for 
its  master. 

A  list  of  my  bound  books,  omitting  pamphlets  and  booklets, 
appears  in  the  Appendix. 


Chapter   LIX 
Years 1876-1922 

OUR   HOME-LIFE 

OUR      SIX      HOMES MANY      ABSENCES      MAKE      HOME      MORE 

PRECIOUS OUR     CHILDREN     AND    CHILDREN-IN-LAW 

PLEASANT      HOME      EVENINGS HOME      GAMES HIKES 

WITH   MY  BOYS FAMILY  PRAYERS. 

,T  MAY  seem,  because  of  the  many  chapters 
devoted  to  our  travels,  that  our  home-life 
must  have  been  very  much  abbreviated,  and 
its  joys  very  scanty.  Though  it  has  been 
often  interrupted  we  have  appreciated  all  the 
more  the  home-life  we  have  enjoyed,  and  in 
some  respects  these  many  interregnums  have  made  it  more 
precious.  I  have  spoken  in  other  chapters  of  my  boyhood 
homes.  Since  our  marriage  we  have  had  six  others,  —  in  Port- 
land, South  Boston,  Auburndale,  summer  homes  at  •  Grand 
Beach  and  Sagamore,  and,  of  late  years,  in  a  rooming-house 
on  Pinckney  Street. 

The  first  seven  years  were  the  quiet  and  comparatively  un- 
eventful years  of  a  pastor  in  a  small  but  charming  city.  The 
next  five  in  the  throbbing  heart  of  a  large  city,  a  section  chiefly 
given  over  to  foreigners.  Then  for  some  twenty-five  years, 
though  with  many  long  intervals  of  travel,  in  Auburndale, 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  suburbs  of  Boston,  while  our  two 
summer  homes  at  Grand  Beach  and  Sagamore  have  often  been 
havens  of  rest  after  a  year  of  strenuous  work  or  travel.  The 
Sagamore  farmhouse  is  still  the  chief  estate  of  our  hearts, 
though   the   Boston   rooming-house   has   been   a  comfortable 

678 


OUR    HOME    LIFE  679 

winter  resort  for  weeks  at  a  time.  Though  our  children's 
doors  are  always  wide  open  to  us,  and  we  often  enjoy  pleasant 
days  with  them,  we  feel  that  we  must  keep  our  own  separate 
home  as  long  as  possible. 

Our  two  older  children  were  born  in  Portland,  the  next 
two  in  Boston,  and  the  youngest  in  suburban  Auburndale. 
Heaven  called  our  little  "  Faith  "  home  when  she  was  only 
one  month  old,  but  the  other  children  have  lived  to  grow  up 


Our  Summer  Home  at  Pine  Point,  Me.,  1880  to  1908 

and  have  children  of  their  own.  All  four  of  them  over-top 
their  mother  by  many  inches,  and  two  of  them,  from  their 
superior  height,  look  down  upon  their  father. 

I  think  few  people  have  enjoyed  a  happier  home-life  than 
ours  has  been,  and  every  day  I  give  thanks  to  God  for  this 
great  mercy.  All  our  children  are  happily  married.  Our 
oldest  son,  Eugene  Francis,  a  professor  of  German  in  Dart- 
mouth College,  and  now  secretary  of  this  great  college,  married 
Martha  G.  Haskell  of  Auburndale,  a  poet  of  distinction,  whose 
poems  have  been  welcomed  by  the  best  magazines,  —  Scribners, 


680  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

HarferSy  Good  Housekeepingy  and  others.  Harold  Symmes, 
our  second  son,  married  Harriet  S.  Adams,  a  minister's 
daughter  and  a  graduate  of  Mt.  Holyoke,  who  has  been 
prominent  in  the  efforts  for  the  upbuilding  of  her  college. 
Sydney  Aylmer,  the  youngest,  a  successful  business  man  in 
Boston,  married  Margaret  Elliott,  a  graduate  of  the  Boston 
Conservatory  of  Music,  who  specialized,  in  her  education,  on 
the  violin.  My  daughter,  Maude  Williston,  married  "  the 
most  popular  young  man  in  all  Newton,"  so  his  neighbors  say, 
who  is  active  in  church  work,  and  a  promoter  of  every  good 
cause,  while  at  the  same  time  he  is  "  not  slothful  in  business," 
being  connected  with  a  large ,  banking  and  brokerage  firm. 
It  has  given  me  the  greatest  joy  of  all  to  know  that  all  of  my 
children  and  children-in-law  are  interested  in  the  work  of  their 
churches,  and  are  striving,  each  in  his  own  way,  to  promote 
good  will  to  men  and  the  welfare  of  the  churches  to  which 
they  belong. 

Among  them  they  have  presented  us  with  nine  grand- 
children, one  or  more  being  found  in  each  family,  while  my 
daughter  has  given  us  three,  two  of  them  being  twins.  I  have 
two  namesakes,  Francis  Clark  Chase,  and  Francis  Edward 
Clark  II.  We  have  now  seven,  but  two  are  in  the  churchyard 
laid. 

No  two  of  our  children  are  alike,  and  yet,  I  think,  in  rather 
an  unusual  way,  each  one  of  the  eight  found  his  or  her  pe- 
culiar niche  in  the  larger  family  circle.  The  two  younger  sons 
are  good  singers,  and  often  with  their  music  enliven  the  family 
circle,  and  are  in  demand  at  the  little  concerts  and  entertain- 
ments in  our  summer  home.  The  rarest  joy  of  our  lives  is 
when  we  all  get  together  at  Sagamore,  as  many  as  our  house 
there  will  accommodate  at  one  time,  for  the  annual  reunion. 

One  especially  happy  feature  of  our  home-life  has  been  the 
home  evenings.  Speaking  for  myself,  these  evenings  have 
been  especially  precious  to  me,  and  no  public  entertainment, 
concert,  lecture,  or  banquet  can  compare  with  them.    We  often 


OUR    HOME    LIFE 


68l 


speak,  when  together,  of  anticipating  a  "  P.M.E."  or  a 
"  P.S.E.,"  initials  that  would  mean  nothing  to  a  stranger,  but 
which  to  us  stand  for  a  "  Pleasant  Monday  Evening,"  or  a 


Mrs.  Harriet  A.  Clark 

In  her  favorite  attitude,  knitting  and  reading.     Taken 

in   1920. 

"  Pleasant  Saturday  Evening,"  at  home.     The  mother  has  a 
special  gift  for  reading  aloud.     She  can  take  in  a  whole  para- 


682 


MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 


graph  at  a  glance,  and,  knowing  what  is  coming,  can  give  the 
right  inflection,  emphasis,  and  intonation,  as  few  readers  can, 
while  at  the  same  time  she  may  be  doing  some  embroidery 
work,  darning  stockings,  or  knitting.  The  most  characteristic 
photograph  taken  of  her  shows  her  reading  and  knitting  in- 
dustriously at  the  same  time. 

For  many  years  dominoes  have  been  the  favorite  game  with 
which  to  end  up  these  home  evenings.  In  these  days  when 
whist,  bridge,  and  poker  are  considered  the  only  worth-while 


The  Living-Room  in  the  Old  Farm  House 

Over  thirty  feet  long.  Sharp  eyes  can  distinguish  old-fashioned  candlesticks  and 
spirit-lamps,  pewter  plates,  and  the  crane,  and  kettle  in  the  big  fireplace,  the  Dutch 
oven,  huge  andirons,  and  century-old  rugs,  chairs,  etc.  A  warming-pan,  hand  bellows, 
and  other  antiques  are  there  but  undiscernible. 

games  for  a  social  evening,  I  can  see  some  lips  curl  in  scorn 
at  this  statement.  But  there  are  certain  games  of  dominoes, 
one  of  which,  known  among  us  as  "  The  Gentleman's  Game," 
is  peculiarly  a  Clark  family  amusement.  It  requires  a  good 
deal  of  skill,  foresight  and  applied  mathematics  to  play  it 
well,  especially  when  double  twelves  and  double  fifteens  are 
used  instead  of  stopping  at  double  sixes. 

Let  not  the  devotees  of  cards  despise  these  old-fashioned 


OUR    HOME    LIFE  683 

games  of  their  forefathers,  games  that  have  never  known  the 
hoof-prints  of  the  evil  one  upon  them.  Of  course  I  know 
that  many  people  play  cards  innocently  and  without  any  temp- 
tation to  gamble.  Still  I  resent  the  sneer  of  those  who  see 
no  fun  or  profit  in  other  games  than  cards.  It  is  a  significant 
fact  that  in  the  great  cosmopolitan  City  Club  of  Boston,  with 
its  seven  thousand  members,  no  games  of  cards  are  ever 
allowed.  Checkers,  backgammon,  chess,  and  dominoes  are 
played,  but  never  a  game  of  cards  within  its  walls.  It  used  to 
be  said,  and  I  suppose  is  true  now,  that  in  John  Wanamaker's 
store  the  only  things,  from  pins  to  pianos,  which  could  not 
be  bought,  was  a  pack  of  cards.  Is  there  not  some  ground 
for  this  "  taboo,"  more  than  the  prejudices  of  old-fashioned 
religionists? 

I  have  alluded  once  or  twice  to  the  family  hikes  that  I  have 
enjoyed  with  all  my  boys  in  the  summer  time,  often  in  America, 
and  quite  as  often  in  foreign  lands.  Many  places  in  Switzer- 
land are  dear  to  us  all  because  of  holidays  spent  there  climbing 
mountains,  sailing  on  the  beautiful  lakes,  or  skirting  their 
shores.  We  have  a  store  of  memories  connected  with  these 
holidays,  and  many  allusions  known  only  to  ourselves.  Single 
words  or  names  of  people  flash  upon  memory's  screen,  as  well 
as  long  stories  of  happy  days,  or  of  people  memorable  for 
their  virtues  or  their  idiosyncrasies. 

Every  summer  when  in  America,  up  to  my  seventy-second 
year,  I  have  had,  and  I  hope  to  have  for  years  to  come,  if  more 
years  are  allotted  to  me,  a  glorious  tramp  with  two  or  more  of 
my  sons.  Starting  from  Sagamore  we  have  explored  both  sides 
of  Cape  Cod  on  foot,  walking  from  ten  to  twenty  miles  a  day, 
and  putting  up  wherever  night  might  find  us.  We  have  en- 
circled beautiful  Martha's  Vineyard  in  this  way,  and  quaint 
old  Nantucket,  and  have  hiked  down  the  Plymouth  coast  for 
many  miles  to  the  south  of  Sagamore.  I  hope  I  am  not  merely 
flattering  myself  in  the  belief  that  "  the  boys  "  enjoyed  these 
trips  as  much  as  the  "  elderly  party  "  himself. 


684  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

We  have,  of  course,  maintained  the  custom  of  family 
prayers  during  all  these  years,  though  we  strive  not  to  make 
it  wearisome  to  the  flesh  or  the  spirit.  I  do  not  think  that 
the  value  of  this  custom,  not  only  as  a  religious  exercise,  but 
also  as  a  promoter  of  the  integrity  and  solidarity  of  family 
life,  is  sufficiently  appreciated.  The  coming  together  once  a 
day  to  listen  to  a  passage  from  the  word  of  God,  or  occa- 
sionally from  some  devout  writer,  while  all  together  bend  the 
knee  in  prayer,  makes  of  family  life  something  more  precious 


Colony  Day  in  Sagamore,  Mass. 
The  colonists  taken  in  Puritan  costume  in  front  of  our  old  farmhouse. 


than  it  could  otherwise  be,  wholly  apart  from  the  religious 
value  of  the  exercise.  But  of  course  religion  cannot  be  left 
out.  The  thought  of  God,  of  our  gratitude  to  Him,  and  of 
our  dependence  upon  Him  as  individuals  and  as  families,  must 
lie  at  the  very  heart  of  devotion  to  one  another  and  to  the 
family  as  a  whole. 

I  have  hesitated  to  write  this  chapter,  lest  it  seemed  too  inti- 


OUR    HOME    LIFE  685 

mate  a  story  to  share  with  the  general  public,  but  how  can  a 
man's  life  be  known  or  recorded  if  he  leaves  out  of  it  the 
largest  part  of  that  which  makes  it  worth  living? 


Since  the  above  was  written,  the  first  sad  break  in  our  family 
circle  occurred,  in  the  death  of  Martha  Haskell  Clark,  the 
gifted  poetess  of  whom  I  have  written,  the  wife  of  our  eldest 
son.  It  was  a  remarkable  death-bed  scene.  Unable  to  re- 
cover from  a  serious  operation,  she  lingered  for  three  days 
and  passed  away  not  only  peacefully  but  joyously,  saying  to 
her  husband  over  and  over  again,  as  he  held  her  hand,  "  Oh, 
this  is  a  wonderful  experience,"  These  were  her  last  words. 
Hundreds  of  letters  to  her  husband  and  to  me  told  what  a 
place  she  had  made  by  her  poems  in  the  hearts  of  many  who 
have  never  seen  her.  I  was  assured  by  many  in  Hanover  that 
no  one  could  have  left  such  a  vacancy  in  the  village  community, 
chiefly  made  up  of  professors  and  their  families.  I  will  quote 
one  little  poem  which  was  read  at  her  funeral.  It  is  from  her 
pen. 

THE    VILLAGES 

I  cannot  hope  that  Sorrow's  feet  forever  and  a  day 

Will  pass  my  little  House  of  Love  where  latticed  sunbeams  stray; 

But  when  she  lays  her  hand  at  last  upon  the  swinging  latch, 

And  steps  where  happy  years  have  smiled  beneath  our  spring-sweet 

thatch, 
Grant  me,  O  God,  this  heartfelt  prayer,  that  somewhere  it  may  be 
Where  little,  small-town  sympathy  may  fold  and  comfort  me. 

The  little,  small-town   S3mpathy  that  runs  across  the   fields 
In  blue-checked  gingham  aprons,  and  with  flour  upon  its  hands. 
That  bakes  and   brews,   and   sweeps  and   dusts,   that   wakeful   serves 

and  shields. 
The  little,  small-town  sympathy  that  knows  and  understands. 


686  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Thy  cities,  God,  are  builded  high   with  carven  stone  on  stone, 
But  hearts  may  ache,  and  lives  may  droop  unheeded  and  alone, 
And  souls  may  dwell  unknown,  unloved,  a  single  wall  between  — 
Not  so  the  quiet,  home-sweet  lives  that  fringe  the  village  green. 
Let  others  reap  the  splendors,  Lord,  but  give  instead  to  me 
The  homely  round  of  living  blent  with  small-town  sympathy. 

The  little,  small-town  sympathy  that  steals  on  neighbor  feet 

From  tiny  lamp-lit  houses,  down  a  maple-shaded  street. 

That  lends  it  strength   on   tear-dimmed   ways   its  own   bruised    feet 

have  trod; 
The  little  small-town  sympathy  —  the  very  soul  of  God. 


Chapter   LX 
Year  1922 

WHAT    MY    RELIGION    MEANS    TO    ME 


LITTLE    TIME     FOR    RELIGIOUS    CONTROVERSY 


A    COVENANT, 


NOT     A     CREED UPS     AND     DOWNS     OF     RELIGIOUS     EX- 
PERIENCE   GENERAL       O.        O.        HOWARD  STONEWALL 

JACKSON  INSTANT        IN        PRAYER MORE        THANKS- 
GIVINGS THAN  PETITIONS MY  RELIGION  IN  A  SENTENCE. 


HAVE  some  sympathy  with  the  men  who 
said,  "  I  have  no  religion  to  speak  of^"*  not 
however,  with  the  usual  implied  perversion 
of  the  words,  that  religion  is  not  a  thing  to 
be  openly  and  joyously  avowed.  Still,  to 
open  one's  inmost  heart  concerning  one's 
relation  to  God  is  a  delicate  matter,  lest  one  speak  insincerely 
or  boastfully.  Yet  a  book  of  this  sort  should  scarcely  be 
written  without  at  least  a  short  chapter  of  this  nature. 

Theology,  being  a  matter  of  the  head,  rather  than  of  the 
heart,  is  quite  a  different  thing  from  religion.  There  is  an 
evolution  in  God's  providence  from  good  to  better,  and  there 
is  also  a  devolution  from  bad  to  worse  on  the  part  of  indi- 
viduals and  nations.  It  is  only  by  His  constant  presence  in  the 
hearts  of  men  and  nations  who  receive  Him  that  mankind  and 
the  world  will  grow  better  and  more  worthy  of  Him  "  whose 
right  it  is  to  rule." 

I  have  never  given  much  time  or  strength  to  theological  con- 
troversy, feeling  that  I  have  other  work  to  do  in  the  world. 
Yet  I  honor  the  great  theologians  of  the  past  and  present 
days,  and  would  not  endorse  the  silly  task  indulged  in  by 

.687 


688  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

many,   of   belittling   theology,   the   greatest   of   sciences,   the 
science  of  God. 

Fortunately  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  has  never 
been  involved  in  theological  controversies,  and  there  is  no 
reason  why  it  should  be.  It  offers  no  creed  to  be  fought  over, 
for  the  creed  of  each  society  is  the  creed  of  its  own  church, 
the  organization  to  which  alone  it  is  responsible,  and  by  which 
alone  it  is  governed.  The  corner  stone  of  Christian  Endeavor 
is  not  a  theological  doctrine y  but  a  covenant  of  service: 
"  Trusting  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  strength^  I  fromise 
Him  that  I  will  strive  to  do  whatever  He  would  like  to  have 
me  do.^* 

This  keeps  it  on  evangelical  lines  and  in  evangelical 
churches.  Because  of  this  pledge,  no  Unitarian  church  nor  any 
other  that  leans  far  over  to  "  the  left  "  has  ever  formed  such 
a  society,  or  if  it  has  formed  one,  has  kept  it  up.  Several 
Unitarian  ministers  have  talked  with  me  about  it,  but  have 
found  its  pledge  too  evangelical  to  suit  them.  A  few  years 
after  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  started.  Unitarians 
and  Universalists  formed  young  people's  societies  of  their  own, 
called  "  Christian  Unions,"  which  please  them  better  and 
which  have  doubtless  been  most  helpful  along  many  lines  of 
fellowship  and  social  service. 

■  Every  earnest  person,  I  suppose,  must  confess  to  ups  and 
downs  in  his  religious  experience.  Even  St.  Augustine,  Jeremy 
Taylor,  Edward  Payson,  and  David  Brainerd,  acknowledge 
periods  of  emotional  dearth  and  darkness.  The  greater  the 
saints  the  more  often  these  periods  seem  to  be  recorded  in 
their  biographies,  because  they  are  more  sensitive  than  others, 
and  more  conscious  of  their  ill-deserts. 

My  chief  confession  must  be  too  great  absorption  in  details, 
too  little  time  given  to  things  of  the  Spirit.  The  direction 
and  development  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement,  so 
far  as  I  have  been  responsible  for  it,  has  been  such  a  continually 
pressing  task,  though   for  the   most  part  a  delightful   oncj 


WHAT    MY    RELIGION    MEANS    TO    ME  689 

there  have  been  so  many  States  and  countries  to  visit,  so  many 
letters  and  articles  to  be  written,  another  one  always  pressing 
upon  the  heels  of  the  last,  that  I  have  to  confess,  like  one  of 
old,  that  oftentimes,  "  While  thy  servant  was  busy  here  and 
there,  He  was  gone." 

Still,  I  do  rejoice  in  many  hours  of  communion  with  the 
Unseen,  especially  on  some  long  voyages,  such  as  the  one  from 
India  to  Africa,  and  often  in  the  "  night  watches."  Perhaps 
sleeplessness  is  sometimes  sent  to  us  that  in  the  darkness  and 
stillness  we  may  see  and  hear  God,  whom  the  blazing  daylight 
and  the  bustling  world  seem  to  put  far  away.  My  hours  of 
prayer  are  not  always  so  formal  in  time,  or  in  attitude,  as  they 
were  once,  but  there  are  more  of  them. 

I  have  tried  to  give  much  of  my  belief  and  something  of 
my  own  experience,  in  a  little  book  called  "  The  Great  Secret," 
written,  as  I  have  heretofore  mentioned,  on  a  long  voyage 
across  the  Indian  Ocean.  In  this  I  said  to  the  young  people, 
for  whom  it  was  written:  "  Seek  to  realize  this  stupendous 
fact  (of  the  immediate  presence  of  God)  for  all  Scripture  is 
a  lie  if  this  is  not  true.  Say  to  yourself  over  and  over  again: 
God  is  Here.  God  is  Here.  God  is  Here.  He  is  within 
Me.     I  am  His  Child.     God  is  my  Father.   .  .  . 

"  Little  by  little  we  shall  go  on  to  appreciate  by  such 
communion  and  meditation  the  deep  truths  of  God's  incarna- 
tion in  Jesus  Christ,  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  indwelling,  enlighten- 
ing, witnessing,  comforting  power.  But  it  will  all  be  God, 
God  within,  God  without,  God  here,  God  everywhere,  God 
in  His  word,  in  His  world,  in  history,  in  us.  We  come  at 
last  to  realize,  '  to  practise  (there  is  no  other  word  so  good 
as  this  of  old  Jeremy  Taylor's)  the  presence  of  God.' 

"  We  look  forward  to  the  hour  of  this  practice  with  de- 
light. It  is  refreshment,  food,  drink,  clothing,  health  to  the 
soul. 

"  Gradually  the  influence  of  this  Quiet  Hour  goes  with 
us  through  the  dayj    every  sorrow  is  sweetened,  every  joy 


690  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

doubled,  every  care  lightened  by  His  presence.  Service  be- 
comes sweet,  difficult  tasks  become  light.  Every  hour  has 
its  song}  life  *  becomes  worth  living.'  " 

I  was  much  impressed  by  a  story  of  himself  once  told  me 
by  General  O.  O.  Howard,  the  one-armed  hero  of  Gettysburg. 
"  My  stump  of  an  arm,"  said  he,  "  used  to  give  me  a  great 
deal  of  pain.  When  I  was  commander  of  the  army  and 
stationed  at  Governor's  Island,  I  had  occasion  to  be  much  in 
the  crowded  streets  of  New  York,  and  I  was  frequently  jostled 
by  someone  in  the  throng  in  such  a  way  that  my  arm  would 
throb  with  pain.  I  was  getting  to  be  cross  and  irritable,  and 
was  afraid  I  should  become  a  testy  old  man,  so  I  took  to  pray- 
ing for  the  people  who  jostled  against  me:  '  O  Lord,  bless 
that  man,'  '  Help  this  poor  old  beggar,'  ^  Comfort  that  one 
in  widow's  weeds.'  This  greatly  helped  me  to  forget  my  own 
aches  and  troubles." 

Stonewall  Jackson,  it  was  said,  used  in  a  very  real  sense 
to  "  pray  without  ceasing."  Before  the  Civil  War  he  was  a 
teacher  in  a  military  academy.  When  a  new  class  came  into 
his  lecture  room  he  would  pray,  "  O  God,  help  me  to  exert 
a  good  influence  over  these  boys  to-day!  "  When  the  class 
went  out  his  prayer  was,  "  Heavenly  Father,  go  with  them 
through  the  day."  When  he  dropped  a  letter  into  the  post- 
office  box  a  little  petition  went  with  it,  "  Lord,  bless  this 
letter  to  the  one  .who  receives  it  "3  and  when  he  received  a 
letter  his  petition  was,  "  May  I  find  in  this  letter  some  mes- 
sage from  Thee,  O  Father!  " 

This  is  what  I  think  the  apostle  meant  by  being  "  continually 
in  prayer,"  not  living  apart  as  a  hermit,  or  a  monk,  not  being 
always  in  the  attitude  of  prayer,  but  feeling  the  presence  of 
God  so  near  that  it  is  never  unnatural  to  lift  up  the  heart  to* 
Him  in  thanksgiving  or  petition. 

I  do  not  mean  to  imply  that  I  have  attained  to  the  company 
of  these  saints  (though  in  all  ages  there  have  been  some  like 
them),  but  I  press  forward  that  I  may  attain. 


WHAT    MY    RELIGION    MEANS    TO    ME  69 1 

I 

Such  prayerfulness  and  communion  with  Goci  made  these 
heroes  no  less  active,  energetic,  sensible,  and  resourceful. 
Rather  were  their  wits  sharpened  as  their  anxieties  were 
soothed  and  their  worries  dissipated  by  the  thought  of  God 
Himself  as  "  nearer  than  breathing,  closer  than  hands  and 
feet." 

In  my  own  religious  experience  thansksgiving  occupies  con- 
stantly a  larger  place  in  my  prayers  than  even  petition.  Every 
night  I  like  to  recount  the  blessings  and  joys  that  have  come 
to  me  during  the  day,  though  they  are  always  too  many  to  be 
counted.  Of  course,  too,  there  are  always  blessings  to  be  asked 
for,  blessings  for  children  and  grandchildren,  for  Endeavorers 
and  their  work  in  many  lands,  for  our  country,  and  especially, 
of  late,  for  this  distracted  world,  that  peace  and  good  will  may 
come  to  it.  But  I  feel  that  God  knows  so  much  better  than 
I  do  what  my  children  and  my  friends,  my  neighbors  and 
my  country  need,  —  what  may  be  real  blessings,  and  what 
may  be  curses,  —  that  I  do  not  go  into  particulars  as  much 
as  formerly,  but  leave  them  with  Him,  whose  everlasting 
arms  are  underneath  us  all. 

I  am  particularly  impressed  in  my  devotional  moments  with 
God's  undeserved  goodness  in  giving  me  my  special  work 
in  the  world.  Realizing  my  limitations  of  intellect  and  soul, 
I  wonder  that  He  called  me  to  start,  and  in  some  measure  to 
develop,  the  work  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  society.  I  see 
hundreds  of  my  brother  ministers  more  eloquent,  more  witty, 
more  gifted  in  many  ways  than  I.  Why  were  they  not  chosen? 
Thousands  of  them  were  thinking  along  the  same  lines  of 
Christian  nurture  in  the  early  eighties.  Why  did  He  not  give 
this  honor  to  one  of  them?  Why  was  the  little  experiment 
in  Williston  Church  His  chosen  ,way  of  influencing  millions  in 
all  lands  for  good? 

This  is  no  mock  humility.  The  undeserved  eulogies  with 
which  I  am  sometimes  introduced  on  the  platform,  often  make 
me  cringe  and  cover  my  face,  for  I  realize,  as  no  one  else  can. 


692  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

how  small  has  really  been  my  part,  and  how  all-embracing 
God's  part  has  been  in  fitting  the  cause  to  the  time,  and  in 
commissioning  a  multitude  of  young  men  and  women  for  the 
special  tasks  He  has  given  them  through  Christian  Endeavor. 
Every  month  He  has  opened  new  doors  3  every  month  He  has 
called  young  leaders  to  enter  them,  and  they  have  responded, 
"  Lord,  here  am  I,  send  me!  " 

The  voluntary,  unpaid,  and  often  inconspicuous  endeavors 
of  these  millions  of  Endeavorers,  whom  God  has  called  as 
really  as  He  called  Abraham  or  Moses  or  Luther  or  Moody, 
often  amaze  me.  To  them  under  God,  belongs  the  credit, 
and  it  often  makes  me  hot  with  a  kind  of  shame  to  receive 
praise  for  what  they,  with  God's  help,  have  done. 

I  sum  up  in  a  sentence  or  two  the  religion  of  my  later 
years:  a  growing  sense  of  the  immediate  presence  of  God;  a 
greater  willingness  to  leave  myself  and  my  affairs  in  His 
hands;  a  feeling  that  Heaven  is  much  nearer  than  we  know; 
a  sense  that  the  clouds  which  often  obscure  our  spiritual  vision 
are  merely  earth-born  mists  which  a  breeze  from  the  hills  of 
God  may  at  any  moment  blow  away;  and  that  the  part  of 
eternity  in  which  we  now  live  is  but  the  fitting  school  for  the 
everlasting  days  when  God  shall  continually  teach  us  new 
lessons,  and  give  us  new  and  joyful  tasks,  in  the  land  where 
none  shall  say  "  I  am  sick." 

If  I  should  choose  only  one  life-motto  from  the  many  I 
would  like  to  live  up  to,  it  would  be  the  same  that  I  used  to  see 
on  the  stained  glass  door  of  the  editorial  ofiice  of  the  great 
author  and  reformer,  W.  T.  Stead,  of  London. 

"  Trust  in  the  Lord  with  all  thine  heart, 
And    lean    not    unto    thine    own    understanding." 


Chapter   LXI 
Years  i 851-1922 

CHAxNGES    IX    THREE-SCORE   YEARS   AND   TEN 

SEVEN     WONDERFUL     DECADES MANY     ADMINISTRATIONS 

ANTI-SLAVERY PROHIBITION WOMAN        SUFFRAGE 

THE    VICTORIAN     ERA MORALS    AND     RELIGION  MAR- 
VELLOUS     INVENTIONS  THE      WORLD      WAR      AND       ITS 

EFFECTS A   CLOSING  WORD   OF   OPTIMISM. 

S  WE  live  our  quiet  or  eventful  lives  one  day 
glides  SO  imperceptibly  into  another  that  it 
is  difficult  to  realize  what  momentous  changes 
are  really  taking  place  in  the  world.  One  has 
to  look  back  over  a  lifetime  to  note  them. 
The  hour  hand  of  a  clock  does  not  seem  to 
move,  but  after  twelve  hours  have  passed,  we  see  that  it  has 
circled  the  whole  disk.  The  springing  blade  of  corn  seems 
no  taller  to-day  than  it  was  yesterday,  but  after  three  months 
we  visit  our  garden  and  find  that  the  stalks  measure  ten  feet. 
So  with  human  life,  and  the  life  of  nations. 

In  many  respects  I  think  the  last  seven  decades  of  the 
world's  history  have  marked  the  most  astounding  progress  and 
most  momentous  happenings  of  any  seven  decades  since  the 
world  began,  always  excepting  of  course  the  first  decades  of 
the  Christian  Era.  I  was  born  in  1851.  Then  slavery  was 
thoroughly  intrenched  in  the  United  States  and  in  many  other 
parts  of  the  world.  Pro-slavery  Franklin  Pierce  of  New 
Hampshire  was  in  a  few  weeks  to  be  elected  president  by  an 
overwhelming  majority  in  the  electoral  college.  It  looked  as 
though  the  anti-slavery  cause  was  forever  doomed,  and  even 

693 


694  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

in  radical  Boston  its  advocates  were  almost  hounded  to  death. 
Yet  ten  years  later  slavery  itself,  and  not  the  anti-slavery 
cause,  received  its  death  blow.  I  have  lived  through  the  ad- 
ministrations of  Pierce,  Buchanan,  Lincoln,  Johnson,  Grant, 
Hayes,  Garfield,  Arthur,  Cleveland,  Harrison,  McKinley, 
Roosevelt,  Taft,  Wilson,  and  well  on  into  Harding's  ad- 
ministration. 

Each  one  of  these  four  or  eight  year  periods  has  been 
marked  with  political  and  economic  changes  of  great  moment 
to  the  nation  and  the  world,  though  I  have  not  room  to  speak 
of  them  in  detail. 

After  our  terrible  Civil  War,  which  stirred  my  imagination, 
as  it  must  have  stirred  every  boy  of  that  period,  our  country 
settled  down  to  fifty  years  of  peace,  except  for  the  compara- 
tively unimportant  Spanish  War,  justified  to  our  consciences 
by  the  barbarities  of  Spain  in  Cuba,  though  it  is  still  doubtful 
if  the  Spaniards  had  anything  to  do  with  blowing  up  the 
"  Maine."  Yet  the  results  of  that  little  war  proved  momen- 
tous, for  it  made  the  United  States  an  Asiatic  power,  and 
saddled  upon  us  responsibilities  for  a  great  archipelago,  a 
responsibility  from  which  most  Americans,  I  imagine,  would  be 
glad  to  be  released. 

Alaska,  Hawaii,  and  shortly  before  my  day,  great  Texas, 
golden  California,  and  indeed  the  whole  Southwest  were 
added  to  our  ever-expanding  territory,  largely  through  a  war 
with  Mexico  which  it  is  difficult  for  us  now  to  justify,  and 
which,  indeed,  at  the  time,  was  opposed  by  a  large  minority 
of  the  American  people. 

Still  more  unbelievable  than  the  success  of  the  anti-slavery 
campaign  was  the  long  prohibition  campaign  of  education  and 
agitation.  The  unspeakable  saloon  wrought  out  its  own  doom 
and  dug  its  own  grave.  It  had  become  so  vile,  catering  to  the 
worst  elements  in  public  life  which  it  centred  in  itself;  it  had 
become  such  a  hot-bed,  or  rather  ten  thousand  hot-beds  of 
political  intrigue  and  corruption,  that  even  people  who  saw 
no   harm   in   moderate   drinking   joined   the   teetotalers   and 


CHANGES    IN    THREE-SCORE    YEARS    AND    TEN  695 

swept  the  country  for  drastic  prohibition.  I  realize  that  the 
battle  is  not  yet  fully  won,  and  that  the  country  still  has  to 
fight  bootleggers  and  law-breakers  in  high  places  and  low; 
yet,  that  Prohibition  has  been  a  great  boon  to  millions  in  re- 
moving daily  temptations  to  drunkenness,  has  made  the  lives 
of  millions  of  women  and  children  brighter  and  more  com- 
fortable, and  has  greatly  reduced  drunkenness,  poverty  and 
wretchedness,  only  prejudice  will  deny. 

Another  great  reform  resulted  in  the  passage  of  the  Nine- 
teenth Amendment,  granting  to  every  woman  of  legal  age  and 
American  citizenship  a  right  to  vote.  The  good  results  of  this 
reform  it  is  too  early  yet  to  measure,  but  I  believe  it  will  make 
a  better  and  purer  America. 

Think  how  the  scorners  would  have  scoffed  at  any  one  who 
in  the  middle  of  the  last  century  had  predicted  these  reforms! 
Even  their  advocates  would  have  said,  as  Israel's  captain  said 
to  the  Prophet  Elisha,  "  Behold,  if  the  Lord  would  make 
windows  in  heaven  might  this  thing  be!  " 

When  we  come  to  the  domain  of  science  and  invention  it 
would  take  an  encyclopedia  to  tell  of  the  changes  and  im- 
provements that  have  taken  place.  In  1851  the  world  was 
just  emerging  from  the  tallow-candle  era,  though  whale  oil 
was  used  to  some  extent,  and  gas  had  been  installed  in  the 
larger  cities.  The  vast  reservoirs  of  oil,  waiting  for  man  to 
tap,  were  still  unknown.  Coal  was  mined  to  a  very  limited 
extent,  and  four-foot  logs,  which  required  so  much  muscle  to 
chop,  saw,  and  split  were  exclusively  used  in  country  places. 
Modern  sewage,  the  modern  bathroom,  water-pipes  all  over 
the  house,  were  all  undreamed  of  in  the  great  majority  of 
homes.  The  old  oaken  bucket  and  the  Saturday-night  tub  still 
held  sway.  The  world  had  to  wait  many  years,  of  course,  for 
the  electric  light,  the  telephone,  the  trolley-car,  and  the  auto- 
mobile, while  wireless-telegraphy,  and  the  aeroplane  come 
within  the  memory  of  the  schoolboys  of  to-day. 

What  a  marvellous  thing  was  the  first  horseless  carriage  that 


696  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

I  saw  bumping  and  swerving  along  the  streets  to  the  dismay 
of  all  pedestrians!  How  gloriously  bright  seemed  the  first 
electric  light  that  I  saw  installed!  I  still  cannot  conquer  my 
amazement  as  I  think  of  wireless  telegraphy  and  telephony, 
the  phonograph,  the  moving-picture  film,  and  the  marvels  of 
the  radio  outfit. 

When  we  turn  our  eyes  abroad,  the  changes  that  have  oc- 
curred, even  within  a  dozen  years,  in  the  rest  of  the  world  have 
been  much  more  startling  than  in  America.  In  the  nineteenth 
century  most  nations  thought  they  could  no  more  get  along 
without  kings  and  nobles  than  that  the  world  could  exist  with- 
out the  sun,  moon,  and  stars.  Now,  by  a  vast  majority  the 
nations  are  republican,  at  least  nominally,  kings,  queens,  and 
emperors  have  been  abolished,  and  the  principle  of  the  right 
of  the  people  to  govern  themselves  if  they  can  has  been  estab- 
lished even  in  the  few  so-called  monarchies  that  are  left. 

Who  could  have  dreamed,  even  at  the  beginning  of  this 
century  that  monarchical  China,  Russia,  Germany,  Austria- 
Hungary,  and  a  dozen  smaller  nations  would  ever  elect  their 
own  rulers  and  join  the  ranks  of  the  republics. 

I  think  I  have  been  fortunate  to  have  lived  through  most 
of  the  so-called  Victorian  Era,  scoffed  at  though  it  is  in  these 
days  by  many  of  the  impressionists  and  the  free  versifiers.  It 
was  for  the  most  part  an  era  of  decency  and  comparative  peace, 
and  until  modernists  can  produce  other  writers  and  leaders 
of  public  thought  like  Carlyle,  Ruskin,  Thackeray,  Dickens, 
Trollope,  Gladstone,  and  many  others  in  England,  and  men 
like  Lincoln,  Grant,  Hawthorne,  Emerson,  Longfellow, 
Lowell,  Whittier,  Garrison,  Webster,  and  Beecher  in  America, 
they  may  well  withhold  their  jibes  concerning  "  the  tepid  mid- 
Victorian  Era." 

In  the  domain  of  morals  and  religion,  I  cannot  speak  with 
so  much  confidence  concerning  the  progress  of  these  last 
seventy  years.  The  Darwinian  theory,  whatever  it  may  be 
called  to-day,  has  doubtless  unsettled  many  minds.  This  would 


CHANGES    IN    THREE-SCORE    YEARS    AND    TEN  697 

not  matter  so  much  if  some  positive  system  of  truth  had  been 
wrought  out  to  take  the  place  of  the  old  theology  in  these 
wavering  souls.  Many  have  concluded  that  since  the  doctors 
of  religion  and  ethics  disagree,  no  one  can  believe  anything 
for  a  certainty,  and  a  good-natured,  lazy  optimism,  and  a  hazy 
agnosticism  have  often  taken  the  place  of  strenuous  belief. 

After  all,  one  must  believe  something  strongly  enough  to 
live  and  die  for  it  before  one  can  do  much  for  the  world.  A 
period  when  most  people  are  careless  concerning  their  belief, 
and  are  content  to  be  agnostic,  can  never  be  a  great  historic  era. 

Especially  in  academic  circles  is  this  prevailing  agnosticism 
and  indifference  to  an  earnest  faith  felt.  I  believe  that  the 
students  in  our  higher  universities  are  more  gentlemanly  and 
courteous  in  their  manners  than  formerly.  There  are  fewer 
"  roughs  "  and  "  toughs  "  than  in  the  olden  days,  but  I  also 
fear  that  there  is  less  religion  and  earnest  devotion  than  a 
half  century  ago.  The  line  was  more  distinctly  drawn  then 
between  Christians  and  unbelievers.  The  professors  of  re- 
ligion really  believed  something  and  believed  it  very  heartily. 
Presidents  of  colleges  and  teachers,  in  America  at  least,  thought 
it  was  part  of  their  business  to  make  Christian  believers  as 
well  as  scholars.  Now,  religion,  as  well  as  church  if  not  chapel 
services  are  quite  optional,  except  in  the  smaller  denominational 
colleges,  and  a  few  larger  ones. 

The  great  World  War  was  undoubtedly  followed  by  a 
period  of  irreligion  and  lax  morals.  Since  it  had  become 
right  to  kill  your  enemy  scarcely  anything  could  be  wrong. 
The  massing  of  millions  in  camps  and  trenches,  the  upsetting 
of  the  old  social  order  all  over  the  world,  was  followed  by 
indecent  dress,  indecent  dances,  and  a  general  lowering  of 
the  conventional  standard  of  conduct.  It  became  much  harder 
for  young  Christians  to  take  a  decided  stand  against  the  evils 
of  the  day  and  to  maintain  it.  Christian  Endeavorers  as  a 
whole  have  struggled  against  the  tide,  but  have  not  been  wholly 
successful  in  maintaining  their  old  standards. 


698  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

Yet  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  close  my  book  with  words  of 
hope  and  optimism.  Post-war  indifference  and  indecency  have 
reached  their  climax.  A  reaction  is  already  taking  place.  The 
church,  the  Sunday  school,  and  the  young  people's  societies 
are  coming  into  their  own  again.  The  nations  are  realizing 
as  never  before  in  all  the  history  of  the  world,  the  folly,  the 
wickedness,  the  wastefulness,  and  the  u'selessness  of  war  and 
of  international  hate  and  suspicion. 

The  Conference  at  Washington  for  the  Limitation  of  Arma- 
ments, has,  I  believe,  begun  a  new  era  in  the  checkered  life- 
story  of  this  old  world,  and  the  year  of  1922,  in  which  this 
book  has  been  finished,  is,  it  seems  to  me,  brighter  than  any 
other  recent  year  with  the  dawn  of  a  new  hope,  the  hope  of  the 
era  sung  by  the  angels  at  the  birth  of  Him  who  alone  can  bring 
it  about,  the  era  of 

"  PEACE    ON     EARTH,    GOOD    WILL    TOWARD     MEN." 


THE    WIDER    INFLUENCE    OF    CHRISTIAN 

ENDEAVOR 

The  influence  of  Christian  Endeavor  is  not  by  any  means  confined 
to  the  eighty  thousand  organizations  that  bear  its  name.  This  is 
indicated  by  the  number  of  societies  with  which  Dr.  Clark  is  more 
or  less  officially  connected,  because  of  his  relation  to  the  Christian 
Endeavor  society.  Man)'  other  positions  of  this  sort  he  has  been 
obliged   to  decline 

Aside  from  the  United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  and  the 
World's  Christian  Endeavor  Union,  and  some  local  clubs  and  organ- 
ganizations,  he  is  a  corporate  member  of  the  American  Board  and 
was  formerly  on  its  Prudential  Committee,  a  member  of  the 
Child-Conservation  League  of  America,  of  the  Massachusetts 
Civic  Alliance,  a  director  in  the  World's  Morning  Watch, 
honorary  vice-president  of  the  American  Peace  Society,  vice- 
president  of  the  American  Humane  Education  Society,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  National  Society  for  the  Upbuilding  of  the  Wards  of  the 
Nation,  a  member  of  the  advisory  board  of  the  World's  Purity 
Federation,  on  the  advisory  board  of  the  Family  Altar 
League,  also  of  the  Biblical  Department  of  the  Church 
and  School  Social  Service  Bureau,  a  vice-president  of  the 
Evangelical  Alliance  of  Greater  Boston,  a  trustee  of  the  Church 
Peace  Union  and  a  member  of  the  Continuation  Committee  of  the 
same,  on  the  advisory  committee  of  the  American  Institute  of  Social 
Service,  on  the  Commission  on  Christian  Education  of  the  Federal 
Council  of  the  Churches,  and  a  corresponding  member  of  the  ex- 
ecutive committee  of  the  Council,  a  member  of  the  Council  of 
One  Hundred,  a  member  of  the  advisory  council  of  the  World 
Peace  Foundation,  a  member  of  the  Education  Commission  of  the 
National  Congregational  Council,  a  member  of  the  National  Insti- 
tute of  Social  Science  and  of  the  National  Committee  of  Studies  in 
Social  Christianity,  a  trustee  of  Kimball  LTnion  Academy,  a  vice- 
president  of  the  Massachusetts  Peace  Society,  a  member  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Child-Labor  Commission,  and  a  vice-president  of  the 
National  Evangelical  Alliance,  a  member  of  the  National  Council 
for  Prevention  of  War,  a  member  of  the  Executive  committee  of 

699 


/OO  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

the  World  Alliance  for  International  Friendship  through  the 
Churches,  and  also  a  member  of  its  international  committee.  Several 
other  organizations  might  be  added,  for  this  is  by  no  means  a  com- 
plete list  of  organizations  which  through  Dr.  Clark  have  sought  or 
are  now  seekino;  the  recoo-nition  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement. 
Some  of  these  organizations  take  considerable  time,  while  others 
are  chiefly  honorary  in  their  character;  but  they  indicate  in  some 
degree  the  number  of  good  causes  that  are  being  promoted,  and, 
as  has  already  been  said,  the  desire  on  the  part  of  their  promoters 
to  interest  the  young  people  of  the  land   in  their  enterprises. 


APPENDIX 

List  of  books  by  Francis  E.  Clark, 
zvlth    date    of   issue,    name    of   fublisher,   and    brief    comments. 

1.  "Our   Vacations,"    1874.      Estes   and    Lauriat. 

His  first  book,  written  while  in  the  theological  seminary. 

2.  "Life  of  William  E.  Harwood,"  Portland,  1877.     Hoyt,  Fogg, 

and  Dunham. 

The  story  of  a  brilliant  young  man  who  died  in  early  life, 

mucli    lamented. 

3.  "The  Children  and   the  Church,"    1882.      Congregational   Pub- 

lishing Societ)'. 

The  first  book  about  the  Christian  Endeavor  society.  Passed 
through  several  editions.  Republished  in  London.  2,000 
copies  of  the  first  edition  of  this  book  were  bought  for  free 
distribution  by  Hon.  W.  J.  Van  Patten,  of  Burlington,  Vt., 
the  first  president  of  the  United  Society  of  Christian 
Endeavor,  and  were  largely  responsible  for  introducing 
the   movement  to  the  public. 

4.  "Our  Business  Boys,"    1883.      Lothrop. 

Based  on  the  replies  of  many  business  men  of  Portland  to 
questions  sent  them  about  true  success  in  life. 

5.  "Looking  Out  on   Life,"    1883.      Lothrop. 

A  book  for  girls  of  a  somewhat  similar  character. 

6.  "  Danger  Signals,"    1884.      Lee  and  Shepard. 

A  book  for  young  people,  compiled  from  a  series  of  Sunday- 
morning   talks   in    Phillips   Church,    South    Boston. 

7.  "Young      People's     Prayer      Meetings,"      1887.        Funk     and 

Wagnalls. 

This  book  covers  the  field  of  young  people's  prayer  meetings, 

suggesting   man\'   lists   of   topics.      Reprinted   in   England. 

8.  "Ways  and   Means,"    1890.      Lothrop. 

The  best  plans  as  then  understood  for  Christian  Endeavor 
societies. 

9.  "Christian   Endeavor   Saints,"    1890.      Pilgrim   Press. 

A   semi-humorous   book   about  young   people's   characteristics. 

701 


702  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

10.  "Our  Journey  Around  the   World,"    1894.      Worthington. 

A  subscription  book  about  their  first  journey  around  the  world. 
50,000  or  more   copies  sold.      Illustrated. 

11.  "The    Mossback   Correspondence,"    1889.      Lothrop. 

The  views  of  "  Old  Father  Mossback  "  on  various  subjects. 

12.  "The   Everlasting  Arms,"    1898.      Crowell. 

A  book  intended  to  bring  comfort  to  the  distressed. 

13.  "The    Great    Secret,"     1898.       United    Society    of    Christian 

■  Endeavor. 
The  secret  of   health,  beauty,   happiness,   etc.      A  devotional 
book,  many  thousands  sold. 

14.  "Fellow    Travellers,"    illustrated,    1898.      Fleming    H.    Revell 

Company. 

Chapters  of  travel  in  various  countries. 

15.  "World-Wide   Endeavor,"    1895.      Gillespie  and   Metzgar. 

The    story   of    the    beginning   and    early   years   of   Christian 
Endeavor.      Fully  illustrated. 

16.  "Old    Lanterns    for    New    Paths,"    1898.      United    Society    of 

Christian  Endeavor. 

A  devotional  book  based  on  the  life  of  Jeremiah. 

17.  "A    New    Way    Around    an    Old    World,"    illustrated,     1900. 

Harper    Brothers.      Published   in    England    with   title    "  The 
Great  Siberian  Railway."      Several  editions. 
The  story  of  our  journey  across  Siberia.     Illustrated  by  origi- 
nal photographs,  taken  by  Mrs.  Clark. 

18.  "My  Mother's  Journal,"    1900. 

Extracts   from   the   journal   of   Lydia   F.   Symmes.      Printed 
for  pri\ate  distribution.   United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

19.  "Training    the    Church    of    the    Future,"    1902.      Funk    and 

Wagnalls. 

A  series  of  lectures  given  in  nine  of  the  leading  theological 

seminaries  of  the  country. 

20.  "  Christian  Endeavor  Manual,"  1903.      United  Society  of  Chris- 

tian Endeavor. 

A  text-book  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

21.  "The    Presence    of    God"       (Bishop    Jeremy    Taylor),     1899. 

United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

22.  "Living  and  Loving"   (Prof.  A.  Tholuck),  1899.     United  So- 

ciety of  Christian  Endeavor. 

23.  "The  Kingdom  Within"   (Thomas  a  Kempis),    1899.      United 

Society  of   Christian   Endeavor. 


APPENDIX  703 

24.  "  The  Golden  Alphabet  "  (Master  John  Taulcr),  1899.     United 

Society  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

These  four  books  of  some  fifty  pages  each,  contain  selections 
from  eminent  devotional  authors,  each  edited  and  with  in- 
troduction. 

25.  "Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands,"    1906.     Winston. 

A  complete  history  of  the  first  twenty-five  years  of  Christian 
Endeavor,  very  fully  illustrated. 

26.  "  The  Gospel   in  Latin  Lands  "    (A  mission-study  book,  jointly 

with  Mrs.  Clark),    1907.      Macmillan. 

27.  "The    Continent   of    Opportunity,"    illustrated,    1917.      Revell. 

The  history  and  present  condition  of  South  America,  with 
the  story  of  a  journey  with  his  daughter  to  nine  South  Amer- 
ican republics.     Five  editions  printed. 

28.  "Similes     and     Figures     from     Alexander     Maclaren,"     1910. 

Revell. 

Including  brief  biography  of   Dr.   Maclaren  by  Dr.   Meyer, 

and  with  introduction  by  Dr.  Clark. 

29.  "  Old  Homes  of  New  Americans,"  illustrated,   191  2.     Houghton 

Mifflin   Company. 

A  book  about  our  immigrants  from  the  countries  of  the  then 

Austria-Hungarian  monarchy. 

30.  "The   Holy  Land   of  Asia   Minor,"    1912.      Scribners.      Illus- 

trated by  original  photographs. 

Describing  visits  to  the  "  Seven  Cities  of  Asia." 

31.  "In     Christ's    Own     Country,"     illustrated,     1914.       Christian 

Herald. 

Describing  a  journey  in  the  Holy  Land, 

32.  "The  Charm  of  Scandinavia,"  illustrated,  1914.      (Jointly  with 

Sydney   A.    Clark),   Little,    Brown,   and   Company. 
Describing  Norway,  Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Finland  in  "  let- 
ters to  Judicia." 

33.  "  Christ  and  the  Young  People,"  19 16.     Revell.     Fourteen  chap- 

ters about  Jesus  Christ  and  his  relation  to  young  people. 

34.  "In  the  Footsteps  of  St.  Paul,"  illustrated,   1917.     Putnam. 

A  book  describing  visits  with  Mrs.  Clark  to  thirty-one  of  the 
thirty-three  cities  St.  Paul  is  known  to  have  visited. 

35.  "Our    Italian    Fellow    Citizens,"    illustrated,     1919.       Small, 

Maynard,   and   Co. 

About  our  immigrants   from   Italy,   based   on   visits  to   many 

Italian  cities. 


704  MEMORIES    OF    MANY    MEN    IN    MANY    LANDS 

36.  "The  Gospel  of  Out-of-Doors,"  1920.     Chiefly  about  the  trees, 

birds,  weeds,  hens,  rainy  days,  etc.,  on  the  old  farm  at  Saga- 
more Beach. 

37.  "Memories  of  Many   Men  in   Many  Lands,"  illustrated,    1922. 

United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,     An  autobiography. 
Also   many   booklets,   leaflets,   sermons,   etc.      One   or  more   sermons 
in   "  Sermons  by  the  Monday  Club,"  on   the   Sunday-school  lessons, 
each  year  for  forty  years.     Many  introductions  for,  and  special  arti- 
cles in,  books  written  by  others. 


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